Sparkling Shadows
by sweetheart357
Summary: Bella is getting her life back on track and that includes forgetting Edward and realizing her love for Jacob. An unexpected trail of events occur where both friendship and love is tested.
1. Meeting the Boys

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters**

**I am posting this sooner than I thought I would. So that asks one question...Did you miss me? Well, I sure did miss writing. I hate nothing to do in my spare time! Anyways, let's just get to the plot. The story starts when Bella is meetinf Quil and Embry and it goes from there. I just decided to spice things up a bit…from now on, I control what happens. And so you know, this story is rated T but it's going to be borderline M in some chapters. Eventual lemon. I hope you enjoy.**

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_One was slender, and almost as tall as Jacob. His black hair was chin length and parted down the middle, one side tucked behind his left ear while the right swung free. The shorter boy was more burly. His white t-shirt strained over his well-developed chest, and seemed gleefully conscious of that fact. His hair was so short it was almost a buzz._

_Both boys stopped short when they saw me. The thin boy glanced swiftly back and forth between Jacob and me, while the brawny one kept his eyes on me, a slow smile spreading across his face._

Jacob sighed. "Hey, guys."

The shorter one was staring at me now, along with the other. I smiled at them and then glanced over to Jacob who had stood up and was walking towards the two guys.

"Hey, Jake…who's this?" The boy nodded in my direction.

Jacob turned to me and gave an apologetic look. "This is Bella. Bella, this is Quil and Embry."

The two boys exchanged a wide smile and then said, "Oh, so _you're_ Bella. It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Embry Call—"

One of them moved toward me and held out his hand. I took it. "I'm Quil Ateara," he said, cutting Embry off. He then looked me up and down. "Wow. You're hot."

His forwardness took me by surprise. I immediately blushed and had the urge to run away.

"Quil!" Jacob snapped, clearly agitated.

Quil turned to him. "What? Just making an observation." He turned back to me and winked.

"Knock it off," Jacob mumbled.

Quil and Embry both laughed. It made me uncomfortable because I wasn't sure what I should do. And to make the situation even more uncomfortable, Embry asked, "What _were _you to doing in here…alone?"

"Nothing. Bella and I are going to fix these bikes."

Right after he said the word _bikes_, both boys' eyes seemed to sparkle. They started to ask questions and give advice. I seemed like I wasn't even in the room anymore. Still, I watched as they went back and forth with their questions and careful observations. I had no clue as to what they were talking about but then again, I didn't speak _boy_.

"Bella?" Quil said and I looked up. I could tell he was curious about something. "You're eighteen, right?"

"Yes."

A sly smile spread across his face and he turned to face Embry, bumping him on the shoulder. "An older woman, eh?"

I wanted to die right there.

My eyes flicked over to Jacob, who was getting angrier with every word that came out of Quil's mouth. "Shut up or get out," he responded.

"Oh, come on! I'm just having some fun," Quil explained. His head quickly turned to me and I was afraid of what he might say. "It's not every day that you have a gorgeous brunette in here."

I felt my face get hotter and hotter. I was hoping that they would leave soon. But, they continued talking. Embry really didn't talk that much, though. I was starting to think that it was because I was present in the room. He seemed to be a little shy. Quil, on the other hand, had no problem with being as loud as possible. He glanced over at me a few times and I felt the need to cover up, even though I was wearing jeans and a hoodie.

"Jacob!" I heard Billy call.

"Shit," he whispered. "I'll be right back." He looked at Quil and said in a husky voice, "Don't do anything you'll regret."

Once he was gone, Quil and Embry got up and moved over and sat about a foot from me. I knew that they were going to start drilling me with questions. It felt like I was on trial.

"So, Bella," Quil started casually. "What brings you down here?"

I smiled nervously. "Well, I wanted to see Jake."

Embry laughed. "Oh, he definitely wanted to see you. He talks about you…a lot. He getting kind of annoying but now I see why he wouldn't shut up." _So he does talk, _I thought.

"So," Quil continued. "What do you think about Jacob?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is…do you like him?" he wiggled his eyebrows at the word _like_.

I hesitated before answering. "Well, of course I like him."

He nodded slowly and asked some more questions that I didn't want to answer. I desperately wanted to have Jacob back. Now.

Quickly, Quil whispered something to Embry that I didn't understand. His eyes lit up. "So, um," he cleared his throat. "Are you a virgin?" His words came out in the form of a held back laugh.

Before I got a chance to answer, Jacob walked through the door. He stood there, eyes widening. Clearly, he had heard what Quil said.

"Get out!" Jacob barked at them.

The boys got up and shuffled over to him. Quil put his hands up. "Alright, alright, we're going. We know you want your alone time with Bella." As they were at the door, he turned around and yelled, "Make sure you use protection!" After that he ran out and Jacob ran right after him.

I heard them yelling in the distance but I couldn't make out what they were exactly saying.

I was pretty sure this was as embarrassed as I had ever been in my life. I stood there awkwardly and out of place until Jacob came back in.

"I am so sorry," he apologized. "They're idiots."

"It's okay," I whispered.

He gave an angry sigh. "No, it's not. What they said…I mean…who the hell asks if you're a…" he trailed off, too angry to think straight.

I wasn't sure what made me do this but I went up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist and looked up at him. All the anger slipped away from him. "Seriously, it's fine. No harm done. Promise."

Jacob's hands rested on my waist. "I'm gonna kill them tomorrow," he informed me.

I just smiled. "Maybe they deserve it."

Jacob suddenly became serious. "What else did they ask?"

"You mean other than the 'are you a virgin' question?"

He looked extremely uncomfortable with the topic. "Yeah."

I shrugged. "Nothing else that's important."

I rested my head on Jacob's chest and exhaled. It felt nice being so close to someone. I hadn't felt anything even remotely close to _this_ since_ he_ left. Jacob put his cheek onto the top of my head and didn't say anything. He was very warm. We stood in the quiet for some time, until I finally pulled away.

Jacob continued to work on the bikes and sat up against the wall in my normal position. I watched as he worked. He was so lucky to have such a useful talent, and I was very lucky that I could use to my advantage.

My face fell but Jacob didn't notice. It was wrong to think such things. But maybe I was using him. I never truly meant to and I definitely didn't mean to feel the things that I did.

Still, Jacob now had a place in my heart—what was left of it. He was the first one to make me smile since _he _left. I pondered the thought for a while.

"Bella!"

The sound of Charlie's voice made Jacob and me freeze in our places. My eyes widened as my head snapped up. Jacob quickly got up and held out his hand for me in which it took. Once I was on my feet again, we both rushed out the garage door and through the trees. I stumbled a lot and Jacob caught me.

He kept his hand around mine as we found our way through the thick trees. It was impossible to see. No light came through the trees and there happened to be no moon tonight. When we finally reached the house, Charlie and Billy were in the frame of the door. Our giggling came to a hush as a let go of Jacob's hand.

"Hey," I said softly. It was dead quiet outside and I felt the need to keep it that way.

"Hello," Charlie responded, his eyes wandering back and forth between Jacob and me. I started to feel anxious.

I laughed nervously, looking at the ground. The wind blew in my face and I wrapped my arms around myself since it was so cold. February was not a generous month in Washington.

"We should be getting home," Charlie told me, his eyes still flickering between Jacob and me.

"Alright."

I said goodbye to Jacob and Billy and got in my truck. The ride home was silent. I immediately missed Jacob's presence. But, tomorrow was Friday and I was seeing him again—that is, if Friday would get here fast enough.

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**Reviews are wonderful! Just putting that out there.**

**I'm going to try to have the next chapter up by monday but there are not promises...maybe if I get enough reviews *wink wink***


	2. An Invitation To Disaster

**I'm going to keep it short and say thank you to everyone who reviewed. I'm glad you are liking the story. And I would like to remind all of you who don't know that they are showing New Moon footage at the Scream Awards on October 27th at on Spike TV. Can't wait!**

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I was sitting in class on Friday just watching the clock. On this particular day, math class was taking forever and my eyes had been glued to the clock ever since last block had started. Next to me, Jessica was trying to start a conversation.

"So," she started. "What are you doing after school?"

I turned to look at her. "I'm going to La Push."

I wasn't even remotely interested in anything Jessica was going to say but I listened anyway, not wanting her to be mad at me again.

"Wow. You've been down there a lot lately. Anyone_ special_"—she emphasized the word—"you've been seeing while your down there?"

"Jacob Black, Jess."

"Jacob Black!" Her excitement had gotten the best of her and she yelled the name. Everyone turned around to look at us since we were in the back of the room. I felt my face flush but Jessica didn't even seem to notice the Twenty-five pairs of eyes that were now staring at us.

"Miss Stanley," called our teacher. "Do you have something you would like to share with the class or are you looking for a Friday detention?"

She cleared her throat. "No, I'm not."

Our teacher stared at us with a stern face. "Then I suggest you don't interrupt my class again."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Lauren desperately wanted to join the conversation. Jessica leaned closer to me and continues to talk in a whisper. "So are you two like…"

"We're friends," I said, before she had a chance to finish her sentence.

When she spoke again, her voice was a cautious tone. "Well, Lauren sort of has a thing for him. Just to let you know."

Lauren. She was such an annoyance sometimes. Well, most of the time. She always had something to say and once she started to talk, you could not get her to shut up.

"Okay, so anyways, later tonight we are all going down to the La Push beach. You should come…and bring Jacob and those other guys that he hangs out with. It'll be fun."

"I don't know—"

She cut me off. "Please, Bella! It's boring without you there and I've barely seen you outside of school."

"Shhh!" The girl in front of us hissed. Once she turned around, Jessica made a face at her.

After a few minutes of not taking, Jessica started to talk again. "Are you coming or not? Will you force me into begging?"

I sighed, finally caving. "Alright, I'll come. What time?"

A smile spread across her face. "Really? I'm so excited! Come at like—" Jessica looked up at the ceiling, considering the time—"ten. And don't be late."

"Okay. I'll be there."

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

The bell finally rung, signaling that the weekend was here. I quickly grabbed my books and headed for the door. I turned back to see that Jessica had already been swamped by Lauren. If I was going to make it out alive, I needed to leave now before I was bombarded with questions from a curious Lauren.

I headed out through the front doors of the school. It was another cloudy day and that was no surprise to me. I noticed that it was significantly warmer than yesterday; there was a twenty degree difference. The weather in Forks was not something I was used to.

I decided that I was going to go home first and change. The clothes I had worn to school were not suitable to be going to Jacob's and then the beach. Once I was home, I went straight upstairs and into my room. I spent fifteen minutes staring at my closet before I grabbed a light blue top out and a pair of low cut jeans that were tight but they were the only bottoms that I had that weren't in the laundry.

On my way downstairs I caught Charlie coming home from work. "You're home early," I said.

Charlie looked up at with curious and suspicious eyes. "Where are you going?" My outfit must have thrown him off since I usually wore something that didn't show off my figure.

"To Jake's and then the beach. Jessica and all them are going to be there later on," I explained to him.

He smiled at the news. "Well, that's good. I like Jacob," he reminded me.

"Yeah, Dad, I know you do."

I pulled into Jacob's driveway to see that he was already standing outside waiting for me. When I got out he greeted me with a hug.

"Jake—can't—breathe!"

He dropped to the ground. "Sorry. Sometimes I forget how small and fragile you are," he said with a smirk. It wasn't long before his eyes wandered down my body.

I crossed my arms across my chest. "What are you looking at?"

He knew that he was caught but still, he just smiled at me. I thought I saw a blush forming under his perfect dark skin. "Nothing. You just usually don't wear something like _this_." He pointed toward the outfit I was wearing.

I shrugged. "It was the only thing I had."

There were a few minutes of silence before Jacob said, "You look pretty."

I bit my bottom lip. "Thanks."

As we walked back to his garage I contemplated telling Jacob about the meeting my friends at the beach. I really just wanted to be alone with him but I did promise Jessica that I would come. And plus, Jacob _would _be there with me.

"So Jessica—you remember Jess, right? From last year at the beach." _When we met,_ I added mentally.

"How could I forget that day? And, yes, I do remember."

I smiled. "She wants us to come down to the beach tonight. All of my lunch crowd is going to be there and she said to invite Quil and Embry…if you want too. I mean, we don't have to go but I kind of promised her that we would."

"Yeah, that's cool. Quil and Embry said they were coming over anyways. They decided that right after I said you were coming over." He seemed to be a little annoyed by this. "I think Quil likes you."

He looked up to see what my reaction was. I tried to hold back my laugh but I was too hard. I bursted into laughter. "Quil? Don't you think he's a little young for me?"

Jacob lost all emotion in his face and he went back to working on the bikes. "He's not _that_ much younger than you. Only a year and a few months." I knew we weren't talking about Quil anymore.

"I guess," I said gently. "Age doesn't really matter to me though."

He looked up again and I knew he was going to pursue this conversation. "And why not?" he asked casually.

"I just think that you should be with who you want to. Who cares if they're younger or older than you just as long as they make happy and all, you know?" Right after I said it, I wanted to staple my mouth shut. The words were all wrong and I was sure that I had just uttered the equivalent to 'you have a shot with me'.

Jacob nodded and I saw that he was a lot happier then he was a minute ago. I started to pick at my nails that Jessica had painted in our English class yesterday. She had just whipped out her red nail polish, told me I needed to have some color, and slapped it on my nails, much to my protest. I had never been into nail polish.

Time went by so fast when I was with Jacob. It wasn't long before he asked, "What time do you want to leave?" Jacob asked.

I thought for a minute. "What time is now?"

"Twenty after ten."

"Oh, no! I told her I'd be there _at _ten! Jessica's going to kill me!" I gasped. "When's Quil and Embry getting here?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. Why don't you just go and we'll meet you there," he suggested.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I have to do something anyways."

I stood up and practically ran to the door. "Bella!" I stumbled to a stop and turned around. Jacob threw my car keys at me and to my surprise, I actually caught them.

"Thanks!" I yelled as I ran out the door and to my truck. I was being extra careful not to fall.

When I pulled up, I saw that everyone was already here. My door flew open and I saw Jessica's accusing expression. "You are late!" she shrieked at me. Even though she was trying to look mad, a smile was forming across her face. "I knew it!"

"At least I'm here!"

Angela came up behind her as I slid out of my truck. "Hey, Bella," she greeted in her quiet voice.

Then I saw Lauren coming towards us. "Bella!" she screamed. Once she had joined the group she froze in place. "Where's Jacob?"

"He's coming with Quil and Embry," I answered, not looking at her. Like Jacob would ever like a girl like Lauren.

Jessica nudged Angela. "How about that? Embry's going to be here."

Angela smiled. "Shut up," she whispered, looking at the ground.

"And Jacob!" Lauren said, overly happy. I had a feeling that I was going to have to stay close to Jacob tonight. I didn't want him to be caught alone with Lauren. She would talk for hours and bore him to death. In fact, I should probably make sure she didn't get anywhere near him or his friends. It as for their own safety…make that sanity.

I felt kind of bad for thinking it but it was only the truth. What was the harm in that?

"Come on," Angela urged, while linking her arm around mine. "Let's go over here."

She led me over to the fire and we sat down. Mike, Ben and Tyler were so busy debating about what football team was going to win that they didn't even see me come. Jessica sat on the other side of Angela and Lauren sat on the other side of me. This was no surprise from what the next words out of her mouth were.

"So when is Jacob getting here?"

Jessica leaned over to face her. "Lauren! Oh my gosh, give it a rest," she giggled. "He's a sophomore."

Lauren huffed. "Girl, I don't give a shit. He's hot!"

The nerve this girl had could out shine anyone. It amazed me even now. But, that didn't keep me from wanting to pull Lauren's stupid hair right out of her head. Maybe that would make her shut up and would could all have some peace and quiet. Yeah, I wish.

Jessica snorted and looked at the fire. "Oh, please. He's like Bella's," she muttered almost in defense. I froze. Is that what everyone thought?

Next to me, Lauren laughed. "Bella, are you with Jacob?"

I hesitated before answering. "No."

"You see," Lauren hissed. Immediately after she said it, she propped up in a gasp. Her hands flew to her hair and ran her fingers threw it. Then, she grabbed her lip gloss out of her purse and put a fresh coat on. I knew why.

My eyes averted up to see Jacob, Quil and Embry walking this way. I got up and rushed toward them, already thinking of the warning I was going to give them about Lauren.


	3. A Battle of Jealousy

**Disclaimer: Obviously I do not own Twilight or any of the characters...A girl can only hope. If I did, the story would have ended up way different.**

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"Hey, Bella," Quil greeted me. It looked like he had gotten taller since the last time I saw him, which was only last night.

I heard footsteps behind me. That was when Lauren came to my side, grabbed my arm, and pulled me close like I was her best friend. I wanted to shake her off and call her out. She was just using me to get close to Jacob.

"Hi," she said slowly to all the boys. Maybe she was trying to sound sexy.

"Hey," they all said in sync. Their heads snapped to the side and they looked at each other with a weird expression on their faces. Lauren laughed out loud and it made me think of an evil witch.

_Don't be mean_, I reminded myself.

I put a smile on my face. "Come on." I dropped Lauren's arm and went to Jacob's side before Lauren had the chance to pounce on her prey.

"Watch out for Lauren," I warned once Jacob and I were out of listening distance.

Jacob chuckled as we arrived next to Jessica and Angela. Lauren stayed over with the other boys. "Hello," they both greeted.

We sat down in front of the fire while the others joined. "Bella, when did you get here?" Mike asked, quickly glancing over to Jacob and back at me.

"Awhile ago."

We all immediately started to talk and laugh. A good hour in, I shivered. The air had gotten chilly and I only had a light jacket on.

Jessica must have noticed. "Come with me, Bella." She got up and started to walk towards Mike's Suburban. Reluctantly, I followed.

Jessica opened the door and grabbed, what I assumed to be, her coat. It was a dark blue button up with four big silver buttons going up the middle. It was definitely a designer coat.

"Here." She held it out for me to take. "I knew someone would need it."

I took her coat and put it on. "Thanks."

Jessica's face fell as she looked past me. My eyes followed in the direction she was looking in and saw Lauren get up and move right next to Jacob. My hands clenched into fists at my side.

"What the hell?" Jessica hissed. "I told her not to…" she trailed off.

I watched as Lauren and Jacob laughed. Her arm had found its way around his. I whipped my head around to look back at Jessica. "Let's go back now."

"Bella—"

I wasn't in the mood to hear it. I stomped back to the fire. Angela, Tyler, Ben and Mike had disappeared further down the beach, near the water. I could hear that one of them was threatening to dump Angela in the water. She ran down the beach in fright.

I sat down on the other side of the fire, right next to Quil. Jacob and Lauren didn't even look up when I got back. She was too busy whispering and giggling with Jacob. He must have thought this would get me jealous or something.

Lauren scooted closer to Jacob and I felt my body go rigid. I wasn't going to stand here and watch this. And I sure as hell wasn't going to share Jacob with anyone.

_I'm not jealous_, I told myself.

I composed myself and nudged Quil. "You want to go for a walk?"

"Sure," he answered happily.

I knew that I was trying to use my own jealousy tactics but I didn't care. I stood up and walked right past Jacob with Quil behind me. I heard him say, "See you later, bro."

Halfway down the beach, I was furious. My anger just kept growing and growing. How dare Lauren and most of all, how dare Jacob. I invited him here and then he pays all his attention to fake ass Lauren, who I really wanted to snatch up by her hair and throw to the ground.

_Whatever_, I thought. _I'm not jealous._

I repeated it over and over and over again but I knew that it wasn't true. I _was_ jealous. I tried so hard not to believe it but it was the truth. Jealousy had taken over my body and I was using it to my advantage. Plus, Quil was an easy target. He was Jacob's best friend.

"So," Quil started casually. "I am going to get it for this."

"For what?"

"For walking with you. But," he held up his hand. "I have a defense."

I laughed. "And what's that?"

Quil stopped and looked back. "He's just trying to make you jealous," he confessed. "He doesn't even like that girl."

I kept my composter even though I was relieved. "He likes _you_, Bella. And I think you already know that."

I didn't answer him, I didn't know how. Jacob was my best friend but I didn't think of him in any other way. Did I? I had honestly never thought about.

"He would kill me if he knew that I told you that so please don't tell him."

"I won't," I whispered.

A couple minutes later, we were walking back up the beach now and heading back. Everyone else was huddled around the fire. Lauren was still sitting next to Jacob although he was talking to Embry, who had looked up at me and then whispered something to Jacob. I smiled in delight.

When we got back, I sat down and didn't look at Jacob. I couldn't. I didn't want to feel what I felt. I pretended that they weren't there.

The wind blew in my face which caused me to shiver again. I was pretty sure that I couldn't feel my feet or my legs anymore. "Okay, I am officially freezing," I announced.

Apparently, Quil was going to play along and draped his arm over my shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll keep you warm." I giggled, staring into the fire. I could feel Jacob's eyes on me.

"I'm bored," Lauren said, standing up. I decided that I would look at her but I only saw her grab Jacob's hand. She then said, "Let's go walk." He took her hand and got up. I watched hopelessly as they walked down the beach together. She never did let go of her hand.

I put it out of mind. He could do whatever he wanted. Next to me, Quil whispered into my ear, "Come on."

We got up and walked off the beach and started to walk the dirt road. We both knew that this was nothing more than a friendship and I knew Quil wasn't expecting anything beyond that. Just thinking about Lauren made me want to boil over with anger. I took slow breaths in, keeping my eyes focused on the road ahead.

Quil gave a low chuckle. "What?" I snapped.

"You're jealous."

I wasn't about to let him know that because I was sure that he would let it slip to Jacob. I was not going to give him that satisfactory. I stopped dead in my tracks. "I am not." The way I said it actually sounded like it was the truth.

"Whatever you say."

I faced him and asked, "Why are we out here?"

"Because I knew it would make Jacob crazy when he came back and both of us were missing. He'd be wondering where we are and what we're doing. You know, give him a taste of his own medicine," he explained it like he had been planning it this whole time.

"You're a good friend," I muttered. "What are we supposed to do, now? I am freezing, I'm pissed off, and walking down a road to God knows where!" Where the sudden anger came from, i didn't know. It must have been broiling inside of me for awhile.

I wasn't being myself. I wasn't normally like this. I wasn't the girl who got jealous over her best friend-Jacob. And I definitely wasn't the girl that tried to make someone else jealous by using their best friend against them. My anger dissolved and I let some of it go in a sigh. "Don't I feel stupid." I didn't mean to say it out loud by I accidently did.

"Why?"

My mouth opened as I faced him. "Never mind. I want to go back," I told him.

He moved his mouth from side to side. "Actually, tell Jacob that I'm going to head home. Will you be okay walking back by yourself?"

I looked back to where the beach was. I could barely see it but the fire was flickering in the distance. "Yeah." I shoved my hands into my coat pockets to keep them from falling off.

I walked back slowly but I was getting the feeling like I was being watched. I glanced right to left into the woods. The breeze was picking up the leaves and swirling them around against the trees. I tucked my hair behind my ears to keep it from flying absently in the wind.

Anxiety was making itself present within my body. I honestly felt like there were unseen eyes on me. Something was watching me but I couldn't see it. The beach was farther away then I had thought. I picked up my pace. When I instinctively turned my head to look behind me I stopped. There was someone at the end of the road. With it being so dark, I couldn't see any of the features on their face.

But, I could tell that whoever it was, they were female. She has very long and curly hair that extended down her shoulders. The figure looked familiar and threatening. I couldn't place who it was. My memory traced back but found nothing. Everything about the past was frightening. That's when I heard _him_.

"Leave," the beautiful velvet voice told me. There was no arguing coming from my end.

In shock from hearing _his_ voice, I raced back to the beach, desperate to be near people again. When I got there, both Mike and Jessica stood up, seeing that something was wrong. Lauren and Jacob were back but even Lauren had stopped talking about her hair and fell silent. Their faces were all worried.

I grabbed my keys off the sand. "I have to go," I said blankly, already heading for my truck. Whoever had been in the road was gone now.

I didn't hesitate when I arrived at my truck. I swung the door open and was about to hop in when I felt a hand around my waist pull me back. I almost screamed. "Jacob!" I was relieved to see that it was only him. "What is wrong with you? You scared me half to death!"

"What happened back there?" He was concerned but I was still somewhat mad at him.

The words rushed out. "I-I'm-I have to go!" I tried to remove his hand but he tightened his grip. Now his other hand was on my waist, holding me there.

"Bella, why are you so—" he searched for a word. "scared?"

"I'm not scared I'm just a little freaked, okay? Now can you please let go of me so I can leave." He didn't budge. Leaving had now become harder than I had anticipated.

I let me body relax, feeling safe around Jacob. Still, having his hands around my waist made me think of the previous conversation that I had with Quil. I didn't feel _uncomfortable _but I felt awkward. He was so warm and it was nice against me plummeting body temperature.

"Jake, I'm serious. I'm really cold and I want to go." I was on the verge of tears. Honestly, I was still shocked form hearing _his_ voice again. It was so real, like he was really there with me. The only thing that was worse was the fact that I only heard his voice when there was danger. _That _was what scared me the most. _That _was why I needed to leave. For once, I wanted to be alone.

Jacob moved my hair away from my face. His hand gently brushed over my cheek as the tears spilled over. It was silly but I didn't want him to see me cry. Why I was crying, I wasn't exactly sure. It was a mixer of things, the whole jealous issue had now thrown me for a loop, hearing _his_ voice, and not knowing what to think of the person at the end of the road.

I collapsed again Jacob's well developed chest. "I'll mess up your shirt," I murmured.

"I don't care." Jacob's hands were on the small of my back and his head was resting on the top of head. I was glad that no one could see us. Who knows what that would lead to.

I pulled away from Jacob to look up at him. He wiped the half dried tears of my cheeks. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Not here," I said, my voice cracking.

He held out his hand. "Keys."

I handed them over, realizing that I was in no condition to drive. On the way over to the passenger side I waved good bye to everyone. I would give back Jessica's coat on Monday at school.

I climbed in my truck and stared out the windshield. We were going back to my Jacob's place and I was grateful for that. I didn't want to be alone anymore considering that the only thing that was keeping me from falling apart _was_ Jacob. Being alone was terrible, even for me. My head rolled to the side to look at him. Since I was about to turn into an icicle, I scooted over and rested my head on his shoulder. I then moved my hand across his chest and held on.

I closed my eyes and waited until we pulled into his driveway.


	4. Getting Closer Than Before

**Diaclaimer: Once again, I do not own Twilight or any of the characters. If only I did...**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated! I've noticed that a lot of people are reading but aren't reviewing, now is that fair? Please, please, please review! It makes me so happy and gives me a lot of ambition to get the next chapter out. Thanks!**

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A storm was moving in at a fast pace, as usual. Clouds had rolled in and a light drizzle had started but by the time we pulled into Jacob's driveway, the rain was coming down a lot harder than it was a few minutes ago. Jacob came to my door and pulled me out. I fell into his arms as he let me up the steps and through the door. Even in the short walk to get inside, I was soaked.

"Jeez," Jacob exclaimed as he closed the door behind him. "It's really coming down out there."

I gave a light smile and looked down at my drenched clothes. My hair was plastered to my face and neck. I didn't want to move because I was afraid that I would get more water on the floor. "What should I do?"

Jacob smiled _my _smile. "I'll get you some towels so you can take a shower."

He walked down the hall to the closet and grabbed two white towels. He walked back and handed them to me. "Here, I'll get some of Rebecca's clothes that she left here. Just give me your wet clothes when you're done."

"Okay, thanks." I walked back to the bathroom and turned the water onto warm. I took off my clothes and picked them up off the floor, putting them on the counter by the sink.

I got into the shower and let the water run over my head. It wasn't making much of a difference. My skin was still cold, even though I had turned the water as hot as it could go. After a good ten minutes I gave up. I turned the shower off and stepped out. Wrapping the towel around my body, I opened the bathroom door.

"Jake!" I grabbed my wet clothes but kept one hand around my towel. All I needed was for it to fall down in front of Jacob.

He came down the holding dry clothes. "Hey," he said nervously. His eyes wandered down my dripping wet body. I cleared my throat and his head snapped back up. "Oh, here." He handed me the clothes. "They should fit."

"Thanks," I replied with a smile. We stood there awkwardly for a few moments. "I'll get changed."

He nodded. "Okay. I'll be out here."

I watched him walk down the hall and into his bedroom. When I heard the door shut, I closed mine. I turned to face the steamy mirror. I looked at myself, examining. My face was pretty, and or the first time, I thought that. Many people have told me that I was naturally pretty but I had never really agreed. My features stood out, mostly my brown eyes.

I tilted my head to the side. Why was I so _obsessed_ with _him_? I thought for a moment but realized that it was an obsession. He didn't want me and yet I was doing everything that I could to hang on. Doing reckless things that endangered me was not a smart idea. But it was the only thing I had left.

I grabbed the towel and ran through my hair to soak up some of the water. I threw the clothes on and was surprised that they were a pretty good fit. Rebecca must have been the same size as me when she was my age. I never did get along with the twins. They were a little too girly for me. I was more into whatever Jacob had been doing. When we were little, Jacob and I were almost inseparable when I came during the summer. I walked out of the bathroom smiling. Those were the good memories.

It was dark. The storm had progressed into something terrible. I peered out the window at the blackened sky. Outside; the wind and rain were giving no mercy. I shivered, feeling cold from just looking outside. Even with every part of my skin covered up, it wasn't enough. Chills ran through my body.

When I turned around I hit something and it made me gasp. "It's just me," Jacob whispered. He was very close to me.

"Jeez," I exhaled, putting me hand over my hurt protectively. "Don't do that! You scared me."

"I didn't mean to." He paused for a minute. "You are very easy to scare, did you know that?"

I went into defense mode. "Well, I'm a girl," I scuffed.

Jacob laughed at me. "So I've noticed." He put his arm over my shoulder and started to walk towards his bedroom. He was _so_ warm that it was unusual. The contact sent shock waves through my body. Maybe it was me.

I shivered again. "I am so cold." I threw my hands around Jacob and held on. I could feel the warmth radiating through me. It was nice to feel warm even if I was dead inside.

"You can't be serious," Jacob said, not minding that I was not going to be attached to him for the rest of the night. There was no way that I was going to ever let go.

I shivered slightly again. "Yes, I am. So you can't go anywhere because I might freeze up over night and turn into a snowman."

"Snow_woman_," he pointed out.

I giggled and said, "Yeah, you can put me out on the lawn or something. Put a hat and scarf on me."

"I doubt that. What do you want me to do?"

Was he not listening? "Stay with me, please."

"I don't know," he joked. "Why?"

I sat on the middle of his bed and stared up at him. I missed the warmth already. "Because you are so warm that it is ridiculous. Plus, I need you." Any boy would be a sucker for that. "_And _what sixteen year old boy would not want to sleep in the same bed as _me_?" I joked lightly, pointing to myself on the last word. I probably shouldn't have even said it.

He took a minute to think up his reply. "Alright, I give."

"Good," I said, climbing under the covers. I got annoyed to see that Jacob was still standing there.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said and pulled his shirt over his head. I couldn't help but stare at his chest. There was a definite six-pack. His muscles would make any girl melt. It was hard to believe that he was only sixteen.

"Stare much?"

My head bounced up in embarrassment. I said the first thing that came to mind. "So you're saying that if I took my top off then you wouldn't stare?" It was entirely the wrong thing to say and my embarrassment grew, adding a few more layers to my blush.

Jacob chuckled. "Well…"

"Shut up," I shot at him, turning over so he couldn't see my reddened face. He slide right next to me and grabbed my waist, turning me over so that I was right up against him. My hands were begging me to reach down and feel his muscles.

I looked up at his face. "What were so upset about when we were at the beach, when you were leaving?"

He was waiting for my answer. "A lot of things."

"Was it something I did?"

I rested my head against his chest to that I didn't have to look at him. "Some of it was, but not all of it."

He knew what I was talking about. "Sorry," he whispered and I didn't answer. There was no reason why I wanted to pursue this conversation. I didn't want to think about it at all.

I changed the subject. "Since when did you get all muscular?" I ran my hand across his chest and down his arm daringly. I couldn't help myself.

"I'm not sure," it sounded like he said. He was mumbling now.

Jacob caught my hand and held it against his chest. I nuzzled my face into his neck and closed my eyes. I wished I could fall asleep like this every night. _Maybe I wouldn't have the nightmares anymore_.

That was the last thing I remembered thinking before waking up to the harsh sunlight. I squinted my eyes and then buried my face into the pillows. I truly hated the morning. But, waking up and finding that Jacob didn't leave made me feel better. He was so peaceful looking when he was asleep. His arms were still wrapped around me although my shirt hand risen up my so that my flat stomach was pressed against his. I felt safe and secure, something I hadn't felt in a long time.

"Jake," I whispered softly into his ear. To my surprise, he woke up and looked directly into my eyes.

"Something wrong?"

"I have a question that I need to know the answer to but, you can't read anything into it. Are we clear on that?" I raised an eyebrow.

Jacob propped himself up on one arm. "Yeah, sure."

I took a deep breath in. "Do you like Lauren?"

A smile formed across his face. As he rubbed his eyes he asked, "Why? Are you jealous?"

This was not the answer I was looking for. I needed something clever to say. "So what if I am? Is it wrong for me to feel jealous that you are paying attention to some other girl and not me? And Lauren is just…" her name made me mad enough to punch a pillow. "She's annoying, self centered, and quite frankly a _bitch_. I don't know why you would even want to be around her."

The way he was looking at me either said that I spoke to fast and he didn't understand me or he was in shock. "You're right, she is annoying," he eventually agreed. "How do you stand to be near her all the time? She only talks about her hair, her makeup, or something random that she thought up."

"You didn't seem to mind last night," I accused.

He sighed. "Believe me when I say that I was dying. She never stopped talking or jumping around. She was getting on my nerves."

I rolled my eyes. "Typical teenage boy."

When we got up, I changed into my dry clothes from last night. My hair was a mess, all tangled and curly. I ran my hands through it to make it look decent. After five minutes I gave up and used a brush.

There was something that I noticed about Jacob when I saw him standing by the front door. He looked _older_. Like he had aged over night. Hell, he looked like he could be older than me. I wondered what I looked like to him.

_Rebecca and Rachel_, I remembered. "How are your sisters? I never did ask."

"They're fine. It's funny, no matter how old they get, they are still annoying. Even more so now. Rebecca keeps calling and bugging me. I don't pick up the phone anymore because she'll keep talking for a good twenty minutes without asking whether you've fallen asleep or not."

I laughed. It was now a constant thing that was happening when Jacob was around. "What's she bugging you about?"

He shook his head. "Both Rebecca and Rachel are coming out here next week and she having everything arranged... She's also curious about you."

"_Me_?" Why would she want to know anything about me? It wasn't like we used to be best friends. You could barely say that we liked each other.

"Yes. She is dying to see you. Rebecca keeps asking me to give her a full description of you but, that would take hours, even days to point out every single detail."

"Aw, thanks."

When I pulled into my driveway, the house was empty. It was eleven o'clock and Charlie was at work. I hopped out of my truck and sank into the ground. The rain last night had been torrential and the ground was now like quick sand. My boots were covered in an inch thick of mud. I desperately tried to find my way around it without slipping.

"Ew," I muttered, as I walked up the cement walkway. I tried to scrap some of the drying mud off on my way up. Getting out my keys, I was already thinking about tonight. Jacob and I had made plans like our usual Saturday night. I was going down there and we were going to the beach. _Perfect._ I loved going to the beach.

But how to fill in the space between? I could clean the house or catch up on some homework that I had been ignoring, which my grades were suffering from. Neither of the ideas were appealing to me. I needed something to do. Anything.

I decided to go up to my room and read. Reading for six straight hours was not something that I would do but it would pass the time and keep my mind off things that I didn't need or want to think about. I grabbed a book of my shelf and laid down on my comforter. Oddly enough, the book that I grabbed was _Romeo and Juliet._ I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it or not. _Should I risk it_? I pondered.

Not wanting to do any more damage, I put the book back and snatched up another. I was settling in to endure the long and dull six hours without Jacob. Being without him was impossible. How I wished that the time would pass quickly.


	5. Embarrassment Comes in Two Shades

**I am officially freaking out about New Moon. I mean, did you see the clip the released? I've probably watched it about a hundred times already—I even downloaded if onto my IPod. Bella slapping Paul-that was genius. Although, it has me worried. Didn't Bella figure it out on her own that Jacob was a werewolf? From what I can see, it's going to happen a little differently. I hope that's not going to be the same for the whole movie. It would be a waste to go to the premiere and be like 'none of that was in the book'. Not. And can you believe I'm going to the premiere?!? I'm not bragging, I promise. I just needed to tell someone else than my idiot friends that don't read Twilight. Now enough about me…**

**Love you all who are reading. *blows a kiss***

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Charlie got home before I could leave. We were both in the kitchen and there was an awful silence hanging in the air. I was staring at the clock, waiting. There was no way that it was only five-thirty. I had read two whole books _and_ cleaned up my room. I was out of ideas on how to pass the time. Agitated, I grabbed the sponge from the sink and started to wipe down the counters. Charlie was eyeing me.

"What are you doing, Bella?"

_What does it look like?_ I wanted to say. "Cleaning," I replied.

He nodded, brows furrowing. "Yes, but why?"

I was not in the mood for explaining so I was going to keep it short. "I'm waiting to—"

I was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. I ran over to grab it. "Hello?"

There was silence on the other end. "Hello?" I repeated. Abruptly, the phone went dead. The sound of disconnection was ringing in my ear. I pulled it away and stared at it.

"Who was that?" Charlie asked, turning his attention back to the newspaper.

I put the phone back in its cradle. "I don't know…they hung up. Must have been a wrong number."

He nodded, probably barely listening since he was reading the sports section. I started to leave when Charlie stopped. "Hey, Bella, wait a second." I turned back around to Charlie. "Come sit down."

I obliged and walked over to the kitchen table. "What?"

He got very serious. "Now, I know you are spending a lot of time with Jacob and there's something I want to talk to you about." _Oh God_, I thought, bracing myself. "Are you two…well…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

I stood up, needing to escape. I had a pretty good idea about what he was going to say. "Bella," he sighed. He was clearly out of his element. "Are you and Jacob…sleeping together?"

My mouth dropped in utter embarrassment. Did he really just say that or was I imagining it? Either way, this was not going to be a conversation I was going to have with Charlie. "I gotta go," I slurred, turning out of the kitchen. I raced up the stairs and closed my bedroom door behind me.

_He really thought that Jacob and I were sleeping together_, I thought to myself, astonished. Was that what it really looked like from the outside? Realization hit me and I muttered, "Oh, no." Billy was most likely going to have the same conversation with Jacob. What was he going to say, and most importantly, what was he going to do?

Downstairs, I heard Charlie on the phone. My eyes widened in fright. This was not going to be good. I grabbed my jacket of my bed and flew down the stairs. Halfway out the door, I yelled, "I'm leaving now." I wasn't going to talk face to face with Charlie.

I ran to my truck and headed to La Push. When I got there, Jacob was standing outside with an odd look on his face. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," I said back, my tone sullen. I waited for him to say something else but he didn't. "You okay?"

His head snapped up and he smiled at me, which caused me to smile back. He just had that effect on me. "Yeah, I just feel kind of…I don't know. Just different."

I laughed softly. "Maybe you're growing again," I joked.

"I hope not." He grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's go to the beach."

The beach was completely empty, except for Jacob and me. We walked the length of the beach until my legs got tired. I complained, so we sat down on the sand. Being so small had its disadvantages.

I stared out at the water that was crashing up against the soft sand. The sun was setting, creating a beautiful scene in front of me. The clear blue sky was a great contrast against the clouds that had turned colors of pink and orange. These types of sunsets almost never happened here.

I leaned up against Jacob, resting my head on his shoulder. His hand had snuck around my waist but I didn't shake it off like I normally would do. It made me think of what Charlie had said earlier. I bursted into laughter.

"What?" Jacob asked, confused.

I couldn't even talk I was laughing so hard. It took me a few moments to compose myself. "Just something Charlie said to me. Well, technically he was asking me—" I started to laugh again. "Oh, goodness, I can't even say it."

Jacob held his gaze on me with wide eyes. "You got it, too, huh?"

"What?"

"Before you came, Billy sat me down and was asking all these questions and…" Jacob didn't finish his sentence.

I plopped my head onto my knees. "Let me guess. He asked you if you were_ sleeping _with me." I waited for his response. When he didn't answer, I averted my eyes to him and saw a blush forming under his skin.

"How did you know," he groaned, running his hand through his long hair.

I stared back out to sea. "Charlie asked me the same thing before I left." What was I going to do now?

He laughed. "What did you say?"

I stiffened. "I didn't say anything. It was so weird and awkward so I…left."

He froze next to me. "Yeah, um, Charlie called my dad a few minutes before you got here. Now I know what they were talking about. When Billy asked me, I sort of ignored the subject so—" he thought for a moment—"I wonder what they think now?" he made eyes at me.

A sly smile played across my face. "Maybe we should mess with them," I pondered.

His eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure yet." I turned to him. "I'll think of something."

I noticed that Jacob looked somewhat sullen. It was something that I wasn't used to seeing. He was normally a happy person. "Is there something wrong, Jake?"

He gave a long sigh. "It's Embry. I've been trying to call him, and so has Quil but he isn't answering. When we went over there but he wasn't there either. I'm not sure what to think."

Something told me that wasn't even the half of the story. "What else," I pursued.

He didn't look at me, deep in thought about the situation with Embry. "Earlier today, when I was with Quil, we saw Embry with Sam. I guess he joined their _gang_. It's so odd though; yesterday he was fine and acting like himself. Now he cut his hair shorter and he looks…different."

"Odd," I repeated.

The rest of the time we were caught up in conversation. I avoided anything that might make Jacob think about Embry again. I couldn't afford to have him feel like that. I, off all people, knew how it felt to lose someone. The thought drained me off all my current emotions. I knew how it felt. I also knew how it felt to need someone else to help with the hurt. Even if Jacob's situation wasn't even remotely close to mine. Pain could take everything that you have.

I latched onto Jacob's arm as the sun dipped under the horizon. It was silly, but this scared me. I had always thought of Jacob as my sun. Seeing that it was no longer there, staring me in the face, was frightening. _What if Jacob decides to joins Sam's gang?_ The thought echoed in the back of my mind.

_But of course he wouldn't,_ I reminded myself. Jacob practically hated Sam. I found that Sam was a strange character. I had only seen him a few times and I barely knew him but, I didn't like him. Still, I dreamed about him a lot. Something that I didn't understand. He had been there last night in my dreams. I was always the same. Sam would stand there and watch me carefully.

Nightmares were what they were, not dreams. I hadn't had a normal dream since _he _left. There were two types of nights that I had; terrible ones and bad ones. The terrible ones were the times when I had the nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night screaming. When there were no dreams _or_ nightmares, those were the bad ones. Even though I would wake up and be relived, it was chilling.

"I have weird dreams about Sam," I reveled to Jacob. I automatically shut my mouth. What I should have done was kept it open and inserted my foot.

He gave me a worried look. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," I whispered so that it was barely audible. I could tell he wanted a different answer then the one I had given him.

I needed a good explanation. "It's nothing, really. They're just_ dreams_, right?" _Hardly._

"I guess."

The light was fading. If we were going to get back before it was completely dark then we needed to leave now. Plus, it was getting cold. Apparently, I was the only one who noticed that factor. I reached up and touched Jacob's forehead. "Damn," I muttered. "You're burning up!"

I was surprised when he flinched away. "I think it's you. Your hands are freezing."

I put the back part of my hand on my cheek. It felt like it was a normal temperature to me. "Really? I don't think so. Maybe you're coming down with something."

Not worried at all, Jacob shook it off. "Or maybe you are just cold. Seriously, Bells, I think your hands are going to fall off." I was about to shove my hands into my pockets when Jacob grabbed my right one. I probably shouldn't have but I let him. He was so warm that it would be stupid to turn him away.

"Do you want to work on the bikes, now?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please. _You _do everything. I am the watcher."

"Well, then, do you want to watch me work on the bikes," he corrected himself.

"Yes. I would love to."

A half an hour into working on the bikes, Jacob started to complain about the temperature, saying that it was warm in here. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Here I was, with three layers on, plus a jacket, and he was saying that it was warm when all he was wearing was a shirt and jeans. I was beginning to think that there was something wrong with me.

"Are you sure you are feeling okay?" I asked, worried.

He sighed at me for the umpteenth time today. "Bella, I am fine. I think I would know if I was sick." On that note, he pulled his shirt over his head. My mouth popped open involuntarily.

"Uh," I faltered, averting my eyes to the wall. Looking at him in the way I would have would have turned out badly. And Jacob might have taken it in a way that I didn't want him to. "You do realize that it is the end of February, don't you?"

"So?" he shrugged, like it was not big deal.

"There must be something wrong with me," I told myself out loud. "I must be a naturally cold person."

"There's nothing wrong with you," Jacob laughed. _Maybe not on the outside_, I added, _if you only knew what the inside was like._

I started to pick at my nails when an idea popped into my head. "Do you want to do something _else_ tomorrow? Homework and bikes are getting a little repetitive."

He leaned up and I was forced to look at his beautiful chest. Feeling myself start to blush, I tried so hard to stay focused on his eyes. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm not sure. What do you want to do? I'm leaving it up to you," I said through my nervous smile.

He thought for a moment. "How about the movies?"

"Sure. As long as it's a horror movie," I said, not thinking. Two hours in a dark theater, alone, watching a creepy movie with Jacob. Where's the harm in that?

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**Reviews=LOVE! That's all I'm going to say for now.**


	6. A Movie Mishap

**And so the countdown to New Moon begins. Less than a month people, can you believe it? How can you not be jumping up and down with excitement? I know I am. I am also about to throw all my school books out the window. Especially my math books. Yeah, like I'm ever going to need to use Algebra.**

**Love my reviews! Thanks a bunch.**

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Before I knew it, Thursday rolled around and I was working. Mike was also working. I expected it though. Every single time I was working, Mike was too. He spent every waking second trying to make conversation with me, though he had no problem talking with simple nods and short responses from me. Half the time I wasn't even listening.

_Just one more hour and I'm free_. I'd been counting down the hours until my shift was done since I had walked into the store. It was a habit that I had.

I was glad that it was a slow day. There were three hikers talking to Mike, asking for directions and what the best trails were. "Missing hikers…" Mike's voice faded as I turned the corner into the back room. Where there more missing hikers? I had only known of one that went missing about a week ago.

I waited until the three men left until I question Mike. "What were you saying about the missing hikers?" Mike's eyes snapped up and he smiled, happy that I was finally engaging in conversation.

"Bella, you should really watch the news," I chuckled. "It happened yesterday. Two guys went missing on one of the northern trails. They couldn't find anyone, just their campsite."

I leaned over the counter and rested my chin on the palm of my hand. "Did the y find anything?"

He shrugged. "All they found were some animal prints but they can't prove that they were there before or after the hikers went missing."

"Classic case of disappearance," I muttered.

"Yeah," Mike said, hearing my comment. "It's sad, really. They were both our age." He sighed and slide next to me. "I don't think anyone else is coming in tonight. How about we lock up and you can have the rest of the night…what's left of it."

I smiled sweetly. "That sounds good."

"Are you doing anything tonight?" I was hoping that he wasn't going to ask me to do something.

I looked up at the clock. "I'm going to the movies with a friend."

Mike grabbed the keys from around his neck and slid them across the counter. Even Mike knew that the simple task of catching a set of keys, for me, would be impossible. "Who?" he asked.

I was reluctant to tell him. "Jacob Black."

Mike nodded, not looking up. I knew that he was jealous. "You're spending a lot of time with him lately. You two dating?" He put every ounze of vemon into his words.

I was caught off guard. "What? No," I responded, my voice shaky. Why was it that everyone was thinking the same thing?

"I was just wondering—"

"We're friends," I said, making it clear. When I looked over at Mike, I could see that his face was relaxed and worry free. It was such a waste on his part. I would never look at him the same way that he looked at me.

When we were done locking up, I headed outside. I pulled my coat closer to my body when I stepped out of the store. "Jeez," I shivered. Mike had driven me here after school so I waiting for him to come out so I could ask him for a drive. That was before I saw Jacob leaned up against a familiar car.

"No way!" I shrieked, rushing over to him. "I can't believe it! You finish the Rabbit!"

"Last night. I figured that I'd pick you up," I explained, smitten with himself. "Do you like it?"

"_Love _it!" I was amazed that he had finished the Rabbit so fast. I didn't think that Jacob knew what a useful talent he had. I was slightly envious.

"So are we going or what?" Jacob asked. He went over so the passenger side and opened the door for me.

I slid in and said, "Thank you."

We talked the entire way to the movies. I was starting to get a little anxious upon arriving. I hadn't thought about what movies were showing. Getting stuck watching a romance was not something I was ready to endure. A horror movie was what I was looking for.

"What do you wanna see?" Jacob asked me as we were staring at the movie listings.

I browsed all the pictures and picked out the scariest looking one. "Do you like scary movies?"

"Yeah," he answered.

I smiled and pointed to the one that I wanted. "I want to see that one."

He made a face. "Really? I heard that I was pretty freaky. Lots of blood and gore."

"Aw, are you gonna be scared?" I teased.

"No," he said in a husky voice. "But do you want to have nightmares?"

_I have them almost every night_, I thought, then regretted. I was glad that Jacob was here to hold me together. "Please, I want to see it."

He rolled his eyes at me, not totally convinced. "Okay, come on." He grabbed my hand and we walked in with our tickets.

To everyone else, we probably looked like a couple. I scanned the area to see if there was anyone I knew. When I didn't see anyone, I determined that we were safe. _I_ was safe from any unwanted attention.

Once we got into the movie theatre, I felt a lot better. In the beginning, three people were stabbed to death and one person was blown up. Everything looked to real that it was actually quite terrifying in most parts. People would jump out of nowhere, killing their victims and move on. Each time they showed the dead and mangled body on the ground I would recoil in disgust. At one point, I grabbed onto Jacob's arm and hid my face from the movie.

When I heard that the music was different, I moved my head so that it rested on Jacob's shoulder. I stayed there just in case I needed to hide my eyes again. When it was halfway through, they introduce a love story—a forbidden kind that I found more horrifying than the dead guy laying on the floor with blood gushing out of his neck. Of course I had to choose the one horror movie that had a romance in it.

It was really awkward on my part when there was a very long make out scene. There was the uncomfortable feeling that I felt while I was watching that part with Jacob. Although, he didn't seem to care. Luckily, for me, the girl who was in love was killed about ten minutes later. I couldn't help but feel bad for her.

When the movie was over, a record thirty-five people were killed. I had screamed five times, along with all the other females that were watching. At several points I was sure that I was going to throw up. It _was_ a scary movie and it was definitely going to be stuck in my head for awhile.

"Holy crap," I expressed at Jacob I got back into his car. "I have no words for that movie."

Jacob shrugged and put the keys into the ignition. "I told you so."

"But," I continued. "_Overall _it was a fairly good."

Since it was only ten o'clock we decided to go back to my house. Charlie and Billy were already there since there was a game on tonight. I wasn't surprised that Jacob would rather be with me than watch the game.

We went up to my room instead, causing Charlie and Billy to exchange glances. I shook it off and climbed the stairs. Opening my door, I realized that Jacob had never been in my bedroom before. I had redecorated sometime ago because I had nothing to do and wanted to keep busy. This was one time when I was glad that I had cleaned my room and that everything was in its place.

Since I wasn't sure what to do, I sat on the back part of the bed and pulled a pillow out from underneath me. I held onto it as Jacob crossed the room and sat in front of me. He had a strange look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I feel kind of strange," he explained.

"Really? You were fine a minute ago."

"Yeah, I know. It just all of a sudden hit me." I would have felt his forehead but Jacob was always warm so it wouldn't have made a difference.

I pushed him back. "Lay down," I told him.

He obliged and laid down beside me. I pulled the comforter up and over me, trying to feel warm again. For the first time, I realized that I was extremely tired. Before I knew it, sleep came over me.

I was woken up by feeling Jacob get up next to me. I sat up and blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the blurriness. Jacob leaned over and kissed my forehead. "Go back to sleep," he whispered. "I'll call you tomorrow."

I nodded and fell back onto the bed, but not before catching the bright neon lights reading the time of twelve-thirty. I still heard Charlie and Billy downstairs so I figured that Jacob was going to go home with Billy. I closed my eyes again and waited for the sound of the door to shut. After a minute, it did. I was wondering if the whole Jacob had been watching me or if he had been doing something else. I guess I would never know.

Tomorrow I would call Jacob and make sure that he was feeling okay. Getting sick was not something that I wanted to happen. It would through off everything and I would have to find something else to do that would pass the time.

I forgot all about tomorrow as I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I flipped my head to the other side and waited for the door to open. When Charlie walked through, he had on a worried look. "I have to go down to the station, Bells. Will you be okay here by yourself?"

"Yeah," I managed to say.

He didn't say anything more, probably knowing that I was desiring sleep. I turned to the window and stared out at the cloudy sky. You could barely see the moon or any of the stars. Tomorrow it was going to be so hard to get up in the morning. I didn't think much of it. My eyes slowly started to close and sleep was once again coming over me.

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	7. When He Didn't Call

**Bear with me now. About a week goes by in a very short time. It's so boring to try and stretch out the time and quite frankly, it's boring to read since there is no action or anything interesting like that. I thought I should let you know.**

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Jacob didn't call the next day like he said he would. School went by unbelievably slow. I was counting the seconds until I could get home and check the calls.

When I got home I practically ran over Charlie getting through the door. Checking the phone log, I saw that no one had called. I put the phone back in its cradle and trudged upstairs. My book bag fell off my shoulder and landed on the floor with a low thud. I already knew that my Friday was completely ruined.

Now it was a matter of what to do with myself. It was almost impossible to keep my mind of things and keep busy. Staying home was a bad idea but going out was even worse. I thought about calling Angela or Jessica but in the end, decided not to. I couldn't be around anyone but Jacob. This meant avoiding Charlie at all costs. There was no doubt in my mind that he would try and get me to go out, telling me that I should be doing something on a Friday night.

After I had tried to call Jacob twice I decided on doing some homework that I needed to be caught up on. I worked really hard on getting it right and making it sound decent since my grades had started to slip. When I finished everything it was still early. I groaned when I looked up at the clock. "Only eight? You must be joking," I murmured to myself.

My Saturday and Sunday were the exact same and so was the rest of the week. I called and called and called. There was either no answer or the line was busy. Jacob didn't call and I was beginning to worry. Was he that sick? Was he trying to avoid me? As soon as I woke up I tried to call Jacob but the lines weren't working.

"What's up with the phone lines?" I asked Charlie as he was getting a mug from the cabinet. Yesterday I had begged him to call Harry and when he did, Harry had said that Jacob was very sick. But, was he so sick that he couldn't even call? I wasn't sure if that was the whole story.

After he poured his coffee he answered me. "There's a big storm coming in. It should probably hit this evening. I'm going down to the station to warn the hikers up on the trails so I want you to either go over one of you r friends house or have them come here."

"What?" I complained to Charlie's stern request. "Why?"

Charlie sat down at the kitchen table. "I don't want you to be alone when this storm hits. It's not going to be a pretty sight."

I quickly changed the subject. "Did you talk to Billy at all?"

Charlie looked up at me. "I did. He said that Jacob was feeling better so he went to Port Angeles with his friends."

My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe it. Jacob was feeling better and he didn't even call. Did he not want to be around me? Was he mad at me or something? I felt a little hurt but I guess I didn't have a claim over Jacob. Still, he didn't call.

"Now, I don't want you to—"

I sighed angrily."Yeah I know," I agreed. "I'll call Jessica or Angela."

I grabbed the phone and right as I picked it up it rung. Startled, I clicked the answer button. "Hello?" I waited for someone to say something but a voice never came. There was just a long silence on the other end. "Hello?" I repeated. Again, since there was no answer I hung up.

"Another hang up?" Charlie questioned.

"Yeah, "I answered. "This is the second time this had happened." I pondered the phone call that I had gotten last week and compared it to this one. I was almost certain that it was the same.

"It's probably nothing," I told Charlie, not even believing my own words. I honestly didn't know what to think of the phone calls. I doubted it was the last time that I would be getting one of these strange phone calls.

Once again, the phone rang in my hands. I was afraid to answer. "Hello?"

"Bella!" the squeaky voice of Jessica shrieked. I was relived to hear her.

"Oh, hey, Jess," I exhaled.

On the other line, I could hear Angela in the background. "So we were wondering—Angela and me—if you wanted to go out tonight? It'll be really fun, I promise!" Before I said no, I remembered what Charlie had told me.

Contemplating for a moment a replied, "Well, what are you doing?"

"We're just going to Port Angeles for some shopping and dinner at this new place. Supposedly it's the coolest thing to hit Washington!" I heard the phone switch people. Angela's sweet voice came on next. "Come on, Bella, it will be perfect if you come with us. Plus I won't feel so out of place next when Jess goes off to go flirt with a bunch of boys."

I thought for a minute. _Port Angeles_, I repeated in my head. That was where Charlie said that Jacob was. _And I was to accidently run into him…_my thoughts trailed off mid sentence. "Okay I'll go," I finally agreed. I there was the chance that I was going to run into Jacob, I was in. It wasn't like I would even be much of an addition anyways.

"Yay!" Jessica squealed. "I'll come over and pick you up in like a half hour, okay?"

"That's fine. I'll see you then," I said, then hung up.

I changed into a blue top but kept my dark gray bottoms on. I thought the colors looked good together. Plus, the weather outside was cloudy, the usual. I wasn't going to put on something bright so that I stood out. Blending in was something that I was good at.

Jessica pulled up right on time. I said good bye to Charlie and headed out to the car. "Hey, Bella," Jessica yelled as she rolled down the window. "You look good!"

"Thanks," I whispered and got in the back. "So what is this place called that we're going to?"

Angela giggled and turned her body around so that she was facing me. "We don't know. But Jess thinks the word _blue_ is in the name somewhere."

"I swear it has to be _The Blue_…something. I don't remember what the rest is," Jessica rambled. "All I know is that a lot of people said it was totally awesome. A total hang out spot."

A few minutes of silence past and I found myself thinking about Jacob. How I wished to be with him right now. "Did you hear about the storm coming in?" I asked, trying to keep my mind from wandering.

"Oh, I did," Angela said in her sweet voice. "Isn't supposed to be really bad, too? They were saying there's going to be heavy winds and even a chance of hail."

Jessica huffed. "Maybe we should skip the shopping. We don't want to be caught outside when this thing hits. It will ruin my hair." As Angela rolled her eyes at Jessica, I looked out the window. You could tell the storm was coming in from the west. One of those Pacific storms blowing in, I assumed.

Jessica and Angela continued to talk about the normal school gossip. I caught parts of it but didn't pay enough attention to get the full conversation. I just gave simple nods and smiles. "Hey, Bella? What's up with you and that Jacob kid?" Angela asked as we parked.

"Yeah, you've been hanging out with him a lot lately. Even more, now," Jessica added.

"What do you mean?"

"Seriously, Bella! You must see the way he looks at you." Jessica went silent for a couple of seconds. "Even Angela notices it," she finished.

"I wish someone looked at me like that," Angela pondered. Sighing, I slid out of the car. So much for trying to keep Jacob off my mind.

We walked a few blocks until I saw cars piled up the street. I figured that we were getting close when I saw groups of people in nice clothing getting out of their cars and heading in the way that we were. A head of us, a girl about my age was twirling around in a yellow dress, holding onto a boy that was probably her boyfriend. I looked away, afraid that I might start to ache inside. This might have been a bad idea.

It hard to tell what the building looked like. There were barely any lights on outside but you could see a glow coming from inside. Jessica grabbed my arm and dragged me in with her. Stepping inside, the air was filled with fog and multicolored lights. Lots of people crowded the dance floor. Jessica hadn't mentioned that it was a club we were going to.

Jessica led the way to a triangular table. I sat down next do Angela as Jessica took off in another direction, claiming to get drinks. What she was going to come back with made me nervous. "Maybe this was a mistake!" Angela shouted over all the noise.

"Maybe," I repeated back to her. I was clearly out of my element.

Angela leaned in. "Incoming."

I turned in the direction she was looking and saw four guys heading our way. They were all blond and tall. I assumed that they were in college. "Hello, ladies," one of them said as Jessica slid into her seat with three greenish colored drinks in a martini glass.

"Hi," she replied as I kept quite.

One of the boys moved over towards me and draped his arm over my chair. "Hello," he said in a smooth voice. The way he said it made me uncomfortable.

As I shifted my weight Jessica begun to talk. "Do you want to dance?" she shouted, overly loud. I wasn't sure who she was directly talking to but I wasn't going to be the one to respond. I was annoyed with Jessica now. If I had known this was where we were going, I would have said no. I was even surprised that Angela agreed to this.

"You coming?" Angela asked. Her face showed signs of worry.

I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. "I think I'll pass."

Once they vanished into the crowd, I noticed that I had become a center of attention for the male population. Everyone was staring right out me. I tried not to make any eye contact. Most everyone in this place was older than me, with the exception of a few sixteen year olds that had snuck in.

Commotion was picking up. My eyes averted form left to right, catching glimpses of people. I wasn't sure what it was but I got an overwhelming sense of fear. I scanned through the crowd for Jessica or Angela to tell them that I needed to go. They were nowhere in sight. I began to panic. I got up and walked along the perimeter searching for my friends.

I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and ended up bumping into a random guy. When he saw me, he looked down and smiled, saying some cheesy opening line. I quickly moved passed him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something that made me stop. Red hair.

It was only a glimpse but I was sure that it was familiar. "Get out," the beautiful velvet voice told me. Without thinking, I stepped out of the club and took a gasp of the cool air.

The wind had picked up and blew into my face. I forgot my jacket on my chair but I was not going to go back in there. So I just stood there on the sidewalk. After a few moments of thinking, I began to walk down the street. _I heard him_, my mind reminded me.

Once again, I felt the overpowering urge to run. I slowly came to a stop and turned around. At the end of the street was the same person from inside. The female with red hair. Although her features were unrecognizable, I could tell that her stance was the same. Something was so familiar but I couldn't pin point it. When she started to walk toward me I knew that there was nothing human about her.

Victoria.

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	8. One Night In The Woods

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The second that realization hit me, I took off running. The nearest thing to me was the wood so I darting in. At the time, I would have probably been a good idea to go in the direction of people but my mind was telling me other things. "Run," the voice growled at me. "Don't stop."

I did as it told me, once more. For two reasons I didn't look back. For one, I would lose my balance and fall. The other being that I didn't want to know what was coming for me. I didn't even know if Victoria was running after me or not. If she was, she would have caught up to me by now. After all, I was only a human.

How long I had been running for was something I didn't know. The moon was pretty high in the sky so I was most likely running for a good amount of time. When I did stop, I was out of breath and alone in the middle of the woods.

The whole time, I was sure that I was running in the direction of Forks. But there was always the chance that I wasn't. I stood silent for awhile, not knowing what to do. I was deep in the forest and scared out of my mind at this point.

"Great," I mumbled. "What next?"

There was a rustle of the trees behind me. I whipped my body around and held my breath. If I was lucky, it would be a small animal running around. Because luck was always something that I had. Not.

I stayed silent and frozen in place for a minute. I turned back around and smacked into something hard. It felt like bricks or a slate of steel. I stumbled back a few steps in a dizzy mess. It took me a bunch of blinks to get my eyes back to normal. When my eyes focused, I slowly looked up, not wanting to see what was before me.

There she was. Victoria. Her long reed hair cascaded down her shoulders and settled halfway down her torso. Her eyes were exactly as I remembered. The red burned into me. Her pale face showed a smirk across her slim lips. This was a moment where I could honestly say that I was terrified. Nothing in this world seemed more horrific than Victoria, that is, other than the thought of losing Jacob.

"Bella," she sneered at me. Nothing about the way she implied it sounded good. "Funny to run into you."

I had no idea what to say. My legs stumbled back again but it would be no use to run. "You've been following me," I said in a low voice that was barely audible. As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew they were true.

"Ah, you're a smart one. But, then again, it wasn't too smart to run away into the woods were no one will hear you. Your screams of course."

"I'm not going to scream," I whispered. I found it hard to look away from her. I kept my gaze locked onto her every move. I didn't want to be surprised when she launched herself at me.

"And why not?" Victoria started to advance toward me.

My voice was shaky. "No point. I'd already be _dead_"—my voice cracked on the word—" by the time any one got here."

"Get out of there," _he_ told me. I wished it would be that easy.

Victoria shook her head. "I'm not going to kill you. Not yet. I'm having some fun first—especially with those stupid _wolves_. They'll get a kick out of this. I'll have to watch them as they find your mangled body on the ground." When she finished, she looked out into the trees.

"_Wolves_?" I questioned, fear prominent in my voice. "Why do you care that James-"

"Shut up!" she yelled, causing a flock of crows to fly out from a near by tree. "James was my mate!"

"_Run_!" the voice growled at me. "Now!" My immediate response was to do as it told me. I was about to move my legs when Victoria came up and grabbed a hold of my arms. She was so fast that my hair blew in the opposite direction.

"And to think that Cullen was so stupid. How dare he kill James!" she snarled. "When I kill you, I'll be sure to inform him of your death." Those were the last words I heard before everything went black.

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I couldn't feel much at first. Just the cool breeze that was blowing in my face. Cold drops of what seemed to be snow what hitting my cheeks. I tried to open my eyes but saw blurriness. I closed them and tried again, this time more successful.

There was a fresh coat of snow on the ground. There was probably a good two inches that covered the ground like a blanket. I looked down at my arm and saw that there wasn't much of a color difference. On the horizon, the sun was rising over a cloud of gray. I wondered how long I had been out here for.

When I tried to move my head I got about an inch of the ground before it thudded back. Pain shot through my body like a missile. A small noise came out of my mouth from the horrendous pain that I felt. A glance to my right showed a reddish color mixed in with the newly fallen snow. It was everywhere around me. My hand reached over and touched it. I was sure that it was my own.

The pain was mostly centered in my stomach area. I quickly scanned down towards it. My shirt was blood stained and torn at the bottom. My entire stomach was covered in the red goo. You couldn't even tell what the original color of my shirt was. I was about to lift it up to see what damage had been done but I didn't want to injure myself any further.

I could partially move my legs but it was not enough to get up. I simple move of my body hurt unbelievably. I had never in my life hurt this bad.

My thoughts wandered off to Jacob. How I longed to be with him and see his face one more time. Who knows how long I had. I could die out here today. Maybe that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I was already dead on the inside. What difference would it make?

But I thought Jacob was somehow bringing me back. He made me smile and laugh again. I could tell him anything and he wouldn't judge me for it. He listened and remembered every little detail. A tear slid down my cheek. After_ all he has done for me. Everything I needed. I can't even try to return the feelings that he has for me. After all he has put up with…_My thoughts wandered off as more tears begun to form.

Jacob's feelings for me were no mystery. Just something that was obvious. He looked at me in a way that tons of girls would dream of—Angela even said it herself. Would it really be wrong to try and let him in? Such thoughts were to be though about at a later date. Right now, I needed to get out of here.

Not being able to move was something that I had already factored in. I figured that most of the pain I couldn't feel since my body was numb. For the first time, I was feeling the cold. My body involuntarily began to shake slightly. I was on my side facing east. The leg that was under me was bent and the other was out straight. On arm fell behind me and brushed up against my back. My other hand was wrapped around my stomach. I put it there to help stop the bleeding that was still occurring.

It was when my hand was drenched in blood that my eyes closed again. The warm liquid trickled down my arm. Blackness was beginning to overcome me again when I heard my name being called.

"Bella," said the voice. It sounded more like my name was in the form of a question. "Bella?" said the voice again.

Something was familiar about this voice but I couldn't place who it was. Someone was by my side and gently grabbed a hold of my hand that was covered in my own blood. I bobbed my head to the left to see who it was.

"Bella, it's Sam. Don't worry." His voice was comforting. I remembered him now, from when he found me in the woods not that long ago. It was a weird coincidence

Sam's arms stretched underneath me and pulled me up. My head hit his chest as he pulled my tight up against him. He was so warm, just like Jacob. I wondered why everyone but me seemed to be warm all the time.

Time went by very fast. In the matter of minutes we were out of the woods, or at least that was what I suspected. I heard the faint sounds of cars and people talking. Sam mumbled something that I figured wasn't directed to me. Though I couldn't be quite sure, it sounded like he said, "Can't keep him from her now."

My eyes rolled into the back of my head and once again, it was black.

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I could already tell that I was in a hospital. I'd been in one so many times before that I knew from the second I gained consciousness where I was. Slowly, my eyes opened. My mother was at the edge of the bed reading a book.

"Mom?" I asked, stirring a in the bed a bit.

Her eyes snapped up and met mine. A huge smile played across her face. "Oh, honey!" she leaned over and hugged me. "You're awake."

She drew back and moved some hair away from my face. "What the hell happened out there? Your friends had no idea what happened to you. Then, Sam found you and he said that there was a lot of blood. More than what we saw on you at the time. How did you get out there, honey? What happened? Where you there alone?"

To me, my mother was talking a million miles an hour. It was hard to keep track of what she was asking. "What?" I asked weakly. Talking was not something I wanted to do at this moment.

"Bella, you were unconscious for three days. The doctors didn't know when you were going to wake up."

Three days? I was shocked. Had it really been that long? "Oh, sweetheart," my mother continued. "What happened to you?"

What was I supposed to say? _Well, mom, I was stalked by a vampire, Victoria, who now wants to kill me and she must have attacked me when we were out in the forest. And by the way, she wants to kill me because Edward, who is also a vampire, happened to kill James, her mate, since he was trying to kill me, _I thought the conversation in my head. for the first time, I thought _his_ name. Edward's name.

"I'm going to get the doctor," she said. "I'll be right back."

As she left, I saw Sam Uley standing outside my door. When Renee was gone, he entered. I watched as he walked over to me. His eyes sowed concern and worry. Outside, two more boys were looking in at me. I didn't recognize either one of them.

"How do you feel?" Sam asked me.

I turned my head the other way. "How do you think?"

When he didn't answer me, I turned back to him. In a moment of gratitude I whispered, "Thanks for finding me."

"You're welcome. It wasn't that hard."

I looked him dead in the eyes. "I find it all very strange. That was the second time you've found me in the middle of the woods. When no one else did, you were the one to show up. How _did _you find me, Sam?"

He opened his mouth but then shut it. The doctor came in and Sam left the room, followed by the other tall boys. They all looked the same to me. Almost like they could be brothers.

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	9. Filling The Time That's Inbetween

**Something to keep in mind: I spend hours on these chapters, writing and reviewing, putting off homework and studying and it only takes a few seconds to give me feedback.**

The weather was so incredibly odd. It was March and there was snow on the ground. Over the past five days six more inches had accumulated, making a total of eight inches. Tonight they were calling for another snow storm. Just what I needed.

No, what I needed was Jacob. I needed him to call or at least answer the phone. I was desperate to hear his voice. My recent run in with Victoria had put everything in perspective for me.

I was released from the hospital three days ago. They had put twenty stitches across my stomach to close my gushing wound. Now, my stomach was wrapped in gauze. The worst thing about it was that it stretched all around my body. In two more weeks I could get it removed and have the stitches taken out. That was going to be so much fun.

Realization had hit me when I was in the hospital. Victoria was out to get me and there was nothing I could do about it. I had no way of defending myself. Every day that past was going to be a day closer to when Victoria found me. Now, I was waiting. Waiting to die or for some miracle to happen so that Victoria wouldn't hunt me down and kill me.

I tried to stay away from my friends. I didn't want any of them to get hurt or involved. Jessica and Angela were probably worried the most. I had made a lame excuse as of why I had left and ended up in the forest all bloody. I didn't even remember what I told them. I hadn't even told anything to the doctors. I simply said that I didn't know what happened. They all assumed it was an animal attack of some sort. But, there was no explanation as to why they thought that.

Time was going by so slow. I was craving to hear Jacob's voice, so much that I picked up the phone that was next to me and dialed his answer. I knew that I should expect it to ring on and on and have no one pick up but, I was always hopeful.

"Hello?" answered Jacob. My heart fluttered at the sound of his voice that sounded deeper and huskier.

It took me a moment to respond. "Jake," I breathed in amazement. "What the hell?" I knew that he was going to know what I meant by it.

"Yeah, I know. I'm really sorry, Bella, it's that I was really sick and I couldn't call or anything." It sounded like he had been rehearsing this.

"I miss you," I said. Deep inside I was wishing that he would tell me to come over and everything would go back to normal. "A lot."

He stayed silent. "Jake?"

"I'm here," he said in a low voice.

I gathered up my courage. "What's going on? And don't say that nothing is because there has to be something up. You don't just—"

"Look, Bella, I have to go," he snapped, cutting me off mid sentence.

I heard something in the background but I couldn't be sure of what the sound was. "Wait, what? But—"

"Don't call, I'll call you. Bye, Bella," he whispered. The line went dead.

I sat in the silent for awhile. The phone dropped to my side and I didn't bother to pick it up. I was hurting on the inside, again. It was something that I should be used to by now.

Another week had pasted without a word from Jacob. I was officially going crazy without him present in my life. He was like a constant drug for me. Of course I tried to call; only now, I didn't call as much as I had in the beginning. I was questioning whether or not I should continue. I missed his warmth and everything about him. I hadn't realized how attached I was to Jacob until he was gone. Isn't the way it always goes? You don't know what you have until it's gone. How true that had proved to be.

I was sitting in my room on early Friday evening. Going on the computer was the only thing left to do. Iquickly went to my email and clicked on the message from Renee. It read:

_Honey, I miss you so much. How are you doing? How is everything? Maybe you should come to Florida for Spring Break. It's not that far away now and you should get back to ma as soon as possible if I need to get plane tickets. That is, if you want to come. Maybe the warm weather will do you some good. But, if you want to stay in Forks, I completely understand. I love you so much._

_XOXO_

_Mom_

When I was done reading it, I smiled. Renee did _not_ under any circumstance want to leave Washington as long as her daughter was injured and in the hospital. It took a great deal of persuasion to get her to agree to go back to Florida. I started to type her back.

_Mom,_

_I miss you too. I fine, really. My injuries are feeling fine and are healing properly. Only one more week until the stitches come out—they're really uncomfortable. I'm terrified that I might rip on out on accident or something. But I'm doing better than before, which is a good thing. The only thing that's bad is Jacob. You remember him, right? Jacob Black. We're sort of best friends—or were. I don't know what's going on with him. He's acting real weird, not calling me or wanting me to come over. I need expert advice…_

_Love, _

_Bella_

When I was done, I hit the send button. I could not believe I had just asked Renee to give me advice about this. I couldn't believe that I was telling her any of this but I needed to. At least she would be thrilled to finally give me some boy advice.

Ten minutes later, her reply popped up.

_Oh, sweetheart! Yes, I do remember that boy. What a sweetie he was, probably still is. Anyways, I wouldn't be worried if I were you. He's a teenage boy—he's got to be sixteen by now, right? These things happen. Maybe he really likes you…_

_Mom_

There was nothing helpful about this message. I still had no clue as to what was going on with Jacob. I put my elbow on the desk and ran my hand through my hair. I got up, aggravated, and flopped down on my Queen sized bed. I got under and curled up under the comforter. I needed to think about all the possibilities, anything that could have possibly led to the ignorance I was getting for Jacob.

I started with me, figuring it was a good place to start. My memory traced back through all the things that I had said and done with or around Jacob. When I came up with nothing, I moved on to different possible situations. Was it possible that he didn't want to be around me anymore? Considering all that Jacob told me, I thought not. The problem was, nothing else stuck out.

That was when it clicked. _Sam Uley_. I suddenly remembered everything that Jacob had told me about him and that stupid gang of his. It all made sense. Embry had fallen into Sam's gang and now Jacob had. "Oh, no," I muttered, extremely mad.

That was the final straw. I was heading down to La Push to confront Jacob right now. I threw the covers off and grabbed my keys off my desk. I wrote and left a note for Charlie then ran outside.

The drive down to La Push was never-ending. I was trying to figure out what I was going to say but I was a little too angry to think about it. Most importantly, I was wondering what Jacob was going to say. Would he be mad at me?

As I pulled up at his house, I already knew that everyone inside knew that I was here. The roar of my engine could wake up the entire population of Russia. And as I had predicted, Jacob appeared at the front door. Behind him were four other boys around the height of him. Embry was on his left. Two other boys I recognized from the hospital and Sam was to the right of Jacob. He didn't look to happy.

Jacob looked do different. His hair was now cropped short. His muscles looked like they were almost about to bulge out of his skin. He had no shirt on and looked identical to the rest of the group.

I was filled with angry the instance I saw them all there. I wanted run up and smack each of them. But, I settled on getting out of my truck for a start. I hit the ground and swung around, slamming the door shut. I crossed my arms and leaned my side into my truck. They all stared at me with the same expression on their face. Whether it was amazement or anger, I didn't know. I didn't care.

One of the boys that was in the back begun to say something to Jacob. As he nodded with what he was saying, I bit my tongue to keep me from lashing out right here. Jacob walked down the steps and walked over with his head looking at the ground. "What do you want?" he growled as he came up to me. Although he said it in a mean way, I could tell he didn't want to.

"WHAT?" I shrieked. "YOU MUST BE JOKING!" A quick glance over at the tall boys showed that they were surprised that such a loud and mad voice could come out of me. "Really…REALLY?"

Jacob's eyes snapped up to mine. His mouth fell open but then he quickly closed it. He turned back to the group. "Don't look at them," I hissed. "Not when I'm standing right in front of you."

He looked back at me. "Come on," he snapped and grabbed my wrist with his hand. I was surprised that his grip was so gentle.

He led he through the woods at a fast pace. It was hard to keep up with him, even with him pulling me in the direction that he wanted. The ground was slippery do to the melting snow on the leaves. I worked around the slush and the mud so I wouldn't slip.

Suddenly, Jacob stopped and I slammed into him. My body hit his and felt like I ran into a wall of steel. I stayed close to his body, feeling the heat radiate off his body. Jacob looked past me and out to the trees. My eyes trailed up to his face. "What do you want, Bella?" he asked, this time in a tone that made me realize that he didn't want to do this. But what was making him.

I refused to answer his question so my hand absently trailed up to shortened hair. My fingers went over his skin and through his black hair. He looked down at me as I remained memorized. I still could not believe that he cut his beautiful black hair. My thoughts stopped when his hand ran up my hair and took a hold of my own hand. He took it and held on for a moment before dropping it to the ground. He took a step away.

"I want an explanation," I told him.

He looked away. "There's nothing to explain."

"There are a _thousand_ things that you need to explain but only one needs to be answered right now." You could tell by my voice that I was hurt. That was one thing Jacob couldn't face away from. "Why aren't you looking at me?"

When he didn't answer my question, I took a step forward and closed the space between us. I was willing to do anything to get him back. My hand reached up and touched his face. "I want an answer, that's it."

"There's nothing to tell," he snapped at me. He moved his head so that it wasn't touching my hand anymore. The fact that he didn't move away from me said something. "I have nothing to say."

"Of course not," I whispered. "There has to be something to say. You know what I want to hear so just come out and say it!"

He shook his head. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"So how's Sam, Jake?" I was trying to get my point across but it wasn't working out the way I thought it was going to.

"He has nothing to do with it!" I noticed that Jacob's hands started to shake. He took two long strides backward. "Leave it alone."

"He obviously has something to do it! He was standing right there beside you! Tell me what's going on!" each word that came out of my mouth was louder than the one before.

I gave him a few seconds. "It's not what you think," he said in a calmer voice. "It wasn't what I thought either. I mean, I was way off. Not even close."

"So what is it? What are you talking about?"

"It doesn't matter, Bella. I can't be around you anymore," he suddenly said. My eyes filled with water and I was fighting the tears back.

"What happened to you? Who—"

"Who? You don't want me to say it," he sneered.

"SAY IT!" I screamed. His hands started to shake even more.

"Fine! Those stupid _reeking_ Cullen's that you love so much, Bella, that's who. They're the reason behind it so how about you blame them! But, you won't because they mean so much to you! They hurt you and you are still trying to hold on!"

"That's not true," I fired back.

"Say _his_ name, Bella. If it's not true then go ahead," he challenged as his hands clenched together.

Rage was pouring through me. "_Edward_." I flinched a little but that was bound to happen. This was the first time I had said his name out loud. Hearing it didn't make a difference. I needed to focus on Jacob.

I must not have been convincing enough for him. "I saw that. You see? You can't even say his name without flinching! How on Earth could you still be—"

"Please, stop." I wasn't going to hear any of this. "You still haven't answered my question."

"It doesn't matter."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I don't get it! Am I missing something here?"

"I have to go," he barked and headed in the direction that we had come from.

"Wait!" I shouted and ran after him. I knew that it was going to be hard to catch up with him so I pushed my legs faster. I moved the branches out of the way until I got to the clearing of where his house stood. Jacob had stopped before the steps up to his house.

"Go home, Bella, I can't see you anymore and I can't be your friend. Except that." Those were that last words he said before he slipped into the house.

I stood there as a drizzle started to come down. I would get soaked, but I was not something I cared about. It felt like I had been stripped bare of everything possible. Nothing remained. An empty heart that had been tore in two, again. Another hole had been punched into my chest. Yet another heartache I couldn't possibly stand.

I slowly made my way over to my truck and got in. I wanted to be far away from here. I drove halfway home before driving became unbearable. I couldn't see through my watery eyes. When I pulled over, I broke down. Sobs rocked through my chest and hurt my stitches. I set my hands on the steering wheel and then laid my head in between them. I bursted into tears.

I remained there for a long time before getting out of my truck. I stared courageously into the dark forest to my side. If I knew what was waiting for me in there, I might have ran in the other direction. Instead, I took a deep breath and stepped toward the darkened trees.

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	10. Realization Hits Hard

**So, I'm not sure what I want to do. Should I keep the story in Bella's POV or switch it up a bit with Jacob's POV? It wouldn't be a continuous chapter after chapter of his point of view but I would put it in there once in awhile. What do you think? You can PM me or leave your answer in a review.**

**As far as the story goes, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. Thank you for my reviews. I love them, always.**

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My courage was fading as I walked amongst the green spruces. My hands went out to my side and ran against the prickly pines. The sap of the tree came off onto my hand so I wiped it on my jacket. I had to have been walking for an hour. Walking absently, like a zombie.

I didn't know what I was looking for. All I knew was that I was hurt, deeply hurt. Tears were drying on my face. It was so bad that I couldn't even cry anymore. Or maybe all the tears in me had already been cried. I was rung out inside.

Life didn't have a meaning anymore. I had believed that Jacob was healing me, or at least beginning to. Now any chance or living again was shot. Now two enormous holes rippled through my chest. It would be a blessing if they ever went away.

"It's not the same," I tried to tell myself several times. Only I knew that it was a lie. It was just as bad and just as painful. I never thought that I would have to feel this again but I was wrong, so wrong that it wasn't even funny.

I wasn't following a particular path. In the end, I was going to regret not following a hiking trail but right now it was not something that mattered to me. Nothing mattered to me. It was like every bit of warmth and happiness was sucked out of me. Every fiber of my being hurt.

I didn't want to go back. I never wanted to feel the hurt and pain that I felt. It would get worst and worst as the days moved forward and time pushed on. There would be no one there for me. I would have to deal with myself.

I tried not to think about him but I forced myself to. The first memory that came up was the one of Jacob. I saw his warm face. I saw the innocence that he had possessed and the childlike humor. His beautiful copper skin that made my skin tone look plain pathetic. The next memory was the newest one that was burned into me like a brand mark. Seeing him for the first time. His tall figure that looked down on me. It was nearly impossible but he must have grown again. Jacob's short hair and newer muscles that taunted me. He was an entirely different person. I didn't even know what happened to him.

I promised myself that I would find out. I would push on and figure it out. Something like what happened to Jacob doesn't go on unnoticed. There were clues that were left in the past somewhere. They were waiting for me to look them over and put the pieces of the puzzle together. The past was waiting to be revealed. Was I willing to let it open its secrets to me?

Was there a way to get Jacob back? That was the only question that remained and frankly, the only one I cared about.

He meaned so much to me. More than I could have ever imagined. I could have never predicted how much I would care for him.

I came to a clearing in the woods were little sunlight peered through the thick green trees. Overhead, you couldn't see barely any of the sky but only the newly growing leaves that were introducing spring. I took some time to breathe. The crisp air blew around me and slightly shook the trees and bushes. It was like time stood still.

"Bella," said a voice from behind me. I jumped, startled, and whipped my body around to see who the unknown voice belonged to.

There stood Laurent. He looked the same as he did a year ago, when I saw him last. He was still with James and Victoria back then so I assumed that he would still be loyal to Victoria. I wanted to keep my distance.

"Oh, hello," I said, trying to appear as if it was a normal thing to run into him here. I needed to look like I wasn't afraid of him.

"Funny running into you here, isn't it?" Laurent moved across the clearing until he was a few feet away from me. I didn't move back because I thought that he might read into it.

"Yes, it is. What are you doing here? I thought you had left?" I tried to make the conversation as normal as it possibly could.

"Well, I did leave shortly after our run in not that long ago. Unfortunately, Victoria came to find me asking of my help. And of course I agreed to come back with her. I can assure you that I knew of nothing that she wanted until a few days ago."

I bit my lip. "Assurance is not something that I need right now."

He nodded. "Yes, I'm sure you need much more than that. For you already know much about what Victoria is up to."

"You know much of it, too."

He sighed and brushed his black coat. "I am afraid so. You see, she sent me here. Victoria wanted me to figure out ways around the land. The wolves where creating a problem for her…" he trailed off.

This was the second time that _wolves_ were mentioned. "What do you mean by wolves?"

"Ah, well, I don't know too much about them. Victoria was reluctant to mention any thing about them; all I know is that they were chasing her all over the state. She must have assumed that it was better for me to come here than her"—he stopped and looked at me with his red eyes—"even though she is very good at running away."

"Running away?" I questioned, trying to stay calm. If he was going to kill me, he would have done it by now.

"It's sort of like a gift for her, though I can never be sure. Maybe running away is just a talent but, I do believe that it is a gift. Like one of the ones your Cullen's have."

I was relieved when the sound of their name didn't make me flinch or make my heart ache. "They're not mine."

"As I would believe so. I went by their house only to see that it was empty. It smelled like no one had been there in awhile." By the tone of his voice, he wanted me to explain.

I took a deep breath and begun. "They left."

"What a shame. I hope it wasn't anything to do with James."

I shook my head. "No. It wasn't that."

"Leave," a voice said in my head. It was a mixture of two voices now. Two voices that I knew so well. Both Edward and Jacob. Then it was just Jacob that spoke. "Bella, you need to leave." I gasped at the revelation.

Laurent's eyes narrowed. "Are you alright?"

I stated to back up in another direction. "I have to go."

"Wait," he said sternly. I stopped dead in my tracks as Laurent came around to the other side of me . "I must warn you. Victoria will do anything to make sure that you are dead. She will go as far as to hurt the ones you love most." I could see pity in his eyes. "She wants you to suffer."

I held back my emotions. "Did she say who?"

"She mentioned that she knew of one certain boy. I don't remember the name but she also said the boy is a threat to her. Said he would probably be protecting you."

"I don't know what you are talking about," I whispered honestly. "She must have someone mixed up."

"There is always the chance Victoria is mistaken. I find that unlikely." Laurent scanned the area like he was looking for something or someone to come. "You know, it would be less of a hassle if I were to kill you now."

My body stiffened. "Why is that?" I could barely say the words. I should have expected this to happen.

Laurent took a step closer. "Victoria would make it painful. She would make you break. With me, you wouldn't feel a thing." He took another step and smelled the air around me. My hair blew out from underneath my jacket and blew towards him. He inhaled my scent and smiled.

"I'll make it quick and painless." I froze and waited for him to pounce.

_Edward and Jacob, I love you both_, I thought quickly.

When Laurent didn't pounce on me, I opened my eyes. He had turned in a different direction as a breeze blew through the air. "They're here."

I glanced up at Laurent. He looked scared. I couldn't see what made him back up behind me until a dark creature emerged from the woods. I stared at the enormous animal with wondering eyes. It was a wolf, only it has not a normal size. It was horse-like and had a frightening stance. I low growl rippled through its teeth. Behind me, Laurent had moved to the side so that he was diagonal from me.

Laurent stared past the huge wolf and at another. Soon two more wolves flanked either side of the first wolf. Then two more appeared. They slowly moved in Laurent's direction, completely ignoring me. It seemed like I was invisible to them.

Before I knew it, Laurent was behind me and threw his rock hard hand against my mouth to prevent me from screaming. A growl came through a reddish-brown wolf's mouth. A frightening noise escaped my lips but muffled by Laurent hand. He leaned in and said, "If you don't move they won't harm you."

_They want you_, I wanted to tell him. _They want nothing with me._

I tried to wiggle away but he tightened his grip and grabbed my arm, pulling me back so that my head fell back against his shoulder. "You wouldn't want to hurt the girl, now, would you?" why he was speaking to the wolves, I wasn't sure.

The one wolf glanced over at me for a second. For some strange reason his eyes reminded me of Jacob. Picture of him flew through my mind until the wolf glanced away. I kept my eyes on him. Each of the wolves eyes seemed to intelligent and wise.

One gray wolf snuck behind Laurent and growled fiercely. The sound made my heart pound. Why did I always find myself in these situations?

His grip tightened around my jaw so hard that I thought he might break it. I let out another painful noise which caused Laurent to cover my nose so that I couldn't breathe at all. I struggled against him but it was no used. Black spots covered my vision. Once again, one of the wolves growled at Laurent. Since I was losing consciousness, I wouldn't be sure which of the wolves it was.

The last thing I saw was the reddish-brown wolf that was staring at me. His eyes almost seemed worried. After that, my eyes fluttered shut and my vision went black. I lost at feeling of my body. Laurent dropped me to the ground and I landed face up with my head to the side, lying against the grass. I heard the rumble against the ground as Laurent took off with the wolves following.

I felt an exhale of breathe on my lower stomach. One of the wolves must have stayed because I heard something settled down next to me. For only a second, I saw the animal beside me. It was a dark brown color that's eyes matched its fur. My head rolled up and to the other side. I was going to make sure I didn't fall unconscious.

Something about the wolf's presence was comforting. There was no real threat coming from it. Was it here to protect me or was it waiting for the others to return? With any luck, the wolves would kill Laurent and that worry would diminish.

At the edge of the woods I saw a human figure coming toward me.

That was when I woke up in my bed. It was dark outside with the moon high in the sky. No doubt it was in the middle of the night. I rose up in my bed. Had I been dreaming? I turned my arm upward which showed me that it hadn't been a dream. There on my arm was a light blue and blackish mark where Laurent had grabbed me.

_How did I get back here?_ I wondered. I remembered the figure at the edge of the woods but surely, I wouldn't have known who that was. My head was too clouded to think about that.

One thing that I could think about was the wolves that had saved me. It boggled my mind. Nothing made sense. Why did the wolves go after Laurent and not me? They had no interest in me what so ever.

My mind focused on the Jacob situation. Something was up and I _needed_ to know what it was. It was killing me inside. I laid back on the bed and thought. My thoughts wandered off to the first time that Jacob and I met on the First beach. I had flirted with him so get information out of him. A smile appeared on my lips. He was so young and still had that boyish face then.

I remembered walking down the beach while he was telling me the story that I had so desperately wanted. The vampire story was how everything got set in motion. I suddenly felt guilty for using Jacob to that extent. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have known anything about the Cullen's or vampires. Maybe if I hadn't pushed on about the story and Jacob didn't tell me it, it would have saved me some heartbreak. But, what would have happened?

I replayed the story in my head. I started to say the ridicules words out loud. "The cold ones and—" I stopped talking. The smile faded away from my face. "Werewolves." My voice had turned into a whisper.

The werewolves turned because of the vampires. They needed to protect their land from them. Everything fell into place. Jacob, Sam, and the other tall boys. There were five of them. In the woods there were five wolves and the wolves went after Laurent who's a vampire. The werewolves went after vampires. It all made sense now.

Jacob was a werewolf.

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	11. The Hidden Secrets

**So far not that many people have told me whether or not I should keep it in Bella's point of view or switch to Jacob's. I really need to know. On the other hand, I've pretty much been staying with the basic plot line and adding my own things into it but now I think that it is a good time to switch things up a bit.**

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I stayed awake the entire night from there on out. I stared straight ahead at nothing in particular. I couldn't believe what I had just figured out. I simply could not believe it.

Jacob was a werewolf.

Each time I thought of that one word alone, thousands of questions ran through my mind. I need them to be answer and I was going to get those answers today. I was going to go down to La Push and find Jacob. No doubt he would be with the others. The other werewolves.

So it wasn't a gang after all, it was a _pack_. The revelations were stunning. Jacob, _my_ Jacob was a werewolf. I knew it was wrong to think of him as _mine_ but I had gotten possessive lately.

I waited until the time on my clock read eight in the morning to get up. I threw on some clean clothes and raced downstairs.

Charlie stopped me. "Where are you going to so early?" he asked as I pulled my coat on. I didn't have any time to waste.

"I have to talk to Jacob," I explained.

I grabbed my keys and headed to the door. "Bella, hold on a second!" he shouted from the family room as I was about to open the front door. _A few more seconds and I would have made it_, I thought sarcastically.

"What?"

"I have two things to say. One, I think you need to wait a little bit before you go over there. It's only eight. The second is I don't want you out in the woods under any circumstances. Another hiker went missing yesterday and we found some animal prints…we're setting out traps and now we need to take our guns with us..." he trailed off, waiting for my reaction.

"What?" I gasped. Now that I knew that it was Jacob that was the wolf, I needed to warn him off that. "No! You mean you're gonna shoot it? You can't!"

He stood up. "Whoa, Bella. Don't get caught up—"

As I started to stutter, I cut him off. "No! You can't!"

Charlie was already in his uniform. He stared wide eyed at me. "Bella, these animals…" he didn't finish his sentence. _That animal is my best friend_, I wanted to shout. That's when I realized that it didn't matter what Jacob was, he was still my best friend. If he was really killing people, I would have to try and convince him not to.

My hand was still on the door knob. This would be my escape. "Well, it takes me twenty minutes to get down there anyways." With that, I swung the door open and ran to my truck. The gray clouds moved up ahead and were heading in the direction that I was going in.

The engine roared to life and I pulled out of the driveway. This was the first time I had ever wished that I had a faster car. The car ride was taking forever. I was getting antsy as I got closer to La Push. My heart started to race at the thought of confronting Jacob. I hadn't thought of anything to say yet so I was just going to wing it.

I pulled into the Blacks driveway expecting that Jacob would not be there. I knocked on the door and after two minutes Billy answered.

He must have saw that something was wrong because his forehead had creased. "Bella, Jacob's…not in." he said it with a plain and toneless voice.

"I really, really need to talk to him." I was not going to take no for an answer at any point. There was no way in hell that Billy was going to turn me away.

He took a few seconds to think of a good reply. "I think you should go home, Bella."

Even though he said it nicely, I completely lost it. "Look, there is a vampire out there somewhere who will do anything to find me, sink her teeth into me, dismember me, burn me, throw me into the ocean, make it seem like I disappeared from the face of the Earth, or whatever she wants do to!"—I stopped to inhale—" And believe me; she will do everything and anything to make sure that I am dead and that it is the worst thing that I have ever experienced so I really need to find Jacob!" I inhaled the cool air and filled my lungs. "Where is he?"

Billy's eyes had widened after he had heard what I had said. "He went that way," he said and pointed into the woods.

"Thank you," I said and darted down the steps and into the direction that Billy had pointed to. I followed a path until I saw the five tall boys ahead of me. All but one was turned away from me. The one that wasn't was Embry. He saw me and his face dropped. His nudged Jacob in the arm. When Jacob turned to him he saw him looking in my direction and turned, too. I wish I knew whether it was surprise or annoyance that was in his eyes.

As I approached them, Embry wacked another boy in his chest. "Paul, look at this," he said to him. Paul was a tall, good looking guy that had to have been eighteen or nineteen. I knew I was going to have a problem with him by the look on his face. It was a mocking look.

"Bella, what are you doing here?" Jacob demanded. There was something different about the way he looked at me. There was something different in his eyes.

Paul laughed out loud. "Yeah, what are you doing here?"

I was done with holding back my emotions. "Shut up," I said straight to his face, putting the necessary venom into the words. "Don't act like you know everything, okay? I'm not here to talk to you."

Embry and the other boy chorused, "Oh!" It was a long and drawn out syllable. Paul immediately got angry.

"Paul," Sam warned, grabbing him by the arm and shoving him back into the distance. The other boys followed and disappeared into the thick green forest. Before they left, Jacob and Embry exchanged glances.

Jacob turned and began to walk away in the same direction. "I can't talk," he mumbled.

This was the moment that I had been waiting for all night. It was just me and Jacob. All the others weren't in seeing distance. "I know what you are!" I shouted at him. Everything went silent. The movement of the wooded area around us had come to a stop. You couldn't hear a thing.

Jacob stopped in his tracks and I held my breath. I watched him as he stood still and slowly turned his body to face me. When he was clearly facing me, I let my breath go. I watched as many emotions played across his face. I took steps forward until I was before him.

"Say it," Jacob asked in a low voice that was huskier than I had remembered. His eyes were so hopeful but guarded. "What am I?"

I looked into his eyes, his deep dark brown eyes that no longer seemed like they had a secret to hide. "Werewolf."

This was one of those moments that I would always remember. We stood still in the middle of the thick trees for some time. I didn't know what else to say. I was going to wait for Jacob to explain.

"You don't care." This wasn't a question, just a fact that he had concluded.

I smiled. "No, I don't."

"I never, in my wildest dream, ever thought you would figure it out," he exhaled, smiling. "You have no idea how happy I am." His hands extended out and around my waist, pulling me into one of his crushing hugs.

"Jake—can't—breathe!" He dropped me back down.

"Sorry," he apologized.

I laughed. "Can we talk?"

"Definitely." He took a hold of my hand and led me through the woods until we came to the beach. I recognized it as the First beach and where we had met so long ago when I had just moved to Forks. I pictured the image of how we looked in my head. The two of us walking down the beach hand in hand. It was exactly as others saw.

Jacob came to a stop when a huge piece of driftwood. I sat down on it as Jacob stood in front of me, eager to begin. "They're going to wonder where we are," I told him, nodding back to where we had come from.

"Whatever," he shook it off. "They'll find out later. What matters I you."

I shook my head. "So, what do you want to know first?" Jacob asked.

"How did it happen?"

Jacob sat down next to me and stared out to sea. "You remember that night that I said I didn't feel right?" I nodded along with him. "Well, when I got home, Billy said that I was looking kind of funny and I lost it. I bursted out of my skin and there I was, a wolf."

"Wow," I giggled.

"It would have happened sooner if it weren't for you."

"_Me_?" I was surprised when he said it.

He chuckled and nodded. "I was so happy around you and when I was with you. I pretty much waited until the last second. It all built up and I exploded. It was the most frightening thing in the world. The worst part was not being allowed to be around you."

"Why is that?"

"It was Sam's orders. He's the Alpha." He looked over at me. I gave him a reassuring smile. "We have to do what he says. And it was absolutely terrible being without you. I was going crazy."

"So when I came over and you were all there…and we talked…"

His tone went sullen. "Yeah, I know. That was so bad. I never wanted to do anything that would hurt you and here Sam was telling me that I had to." He rushed into different topic. "Don't get the wrong idea. Sam didn't want you to get hurt. He thought it was too dangerous."

I raised my eyebrows and dropped them. "I would get hurt either way."

"Exactly. But I would rather it emotionally than physically."

"It almost did feel like a physical wound along with the emotional part." I regretted saying it as soon as the words let my mouth. I wasn't sure if Jacob wanted to know how bad he had hurt me.

Jacob leaned over and put his head into his hands. "I'm so sorry about that," I mumbled into his hands.

I rested my head onto his bare shoulder. "I'm better now," I whispered.

He nodded twice and brought his head back up. "What else do you want to know?"

I thought for a minute, thinking about all the questions I wanted to be answered. "How do you—"

"_Phase_?" When I smiled, indicating that was the word I wanted, Jacob went on. "To start, you probably think that I can only turn on a full moon but that's not true."

"You don't need a full moon?" I was shocked. "Isn't that what werewolves do?"

"No. It can happen anytime. That's where it's dangerous. If I get too mad or angry I could phase. Sam's fiancée, Emily, was too close to him one time and he just got too angry…he knocked her unconscious. She has scars down her face from it."

"Wow," I expressed, not knowing what else I could say after hearing that. "So I'm not supposed to be around you?"

"No."

"I'm willing to take the risk," I exhaled in a quiet voice. His eyes lit up but before he could say something else I figured that it was time to tell him what I had realized earlier. "We can figure all the other stuff out later."

Jacob got up off the driftwood and held his hand out for me. I took it and he lifted me up. "Can I see?"

"See what?" he asked.

"You as a wolf." I felt silly saying it.

"Sure. I can't do it here, though." He looked around. "Come on." He grabbed my hand and led me through the woods.

We didn't go far, only until the trees cleared. Jacob picked me up and sat me on a stump that came up to the middle of my stomach. It reminded me that I still had the stitched in. I would have to be careful.

Jacob planted a kiss on my and for the first time, I was wishing that he would have kissed me a little longer and not just on the forehead. I wanted to know what it would feel like. Thinking about it made my head spin with shock. I had never thought anything like that before. "Don't get scared, okay?" Jacob's voice brought me back to reality.

"I promise."

He leaned down and took off his shoes. Then he put his hands around the waistband of his jeans and slipped them off. He threw then at me and I caught them. I immediately turned away after that, my face filling with heat. "Bella," Jacob called.

I didn't look over. "Yeah?"

"Are you going watch or what? It's okay to look at me."

I turned my head and made myself look at his eyes and only his eyes. It was so tempting to look at his fully naked body. When Jacob saw my reaction, and my blush, he laughed. I buried my face into my hands. I was so embarrassed.

"Can't you do it already," I mumbled.

"Bella, come on, look at me." I moved my head up and did what he said. My eyes traveled down his body. He looked so beautiful. Not to mention tempting. I had never seen an in-flesh naked man before. There had been the diagrams in the health class and Google searches that I had been dared to do at a sleepover once when I was sixteen, but there was no comparison.

I was even more embarrassed when I realized that Jacob knew that I had looked. I moved around uncomfortably. Jacob took a deep breath. I shiver ran down his spine and fur bursted out from every inch of his body as he took the shape of a wolf. I slid down to the ground and walked over to Jacob, who was now a wolf.

My hand brushed across the reddish-brown fur of his neck. His head leaned down touched my palm. "Jake," I said through my smile.

He looked stunning. Never in a million years would I ever think this would be happening. It was insane. Jacob _was_ a werewolf and he was standing right before me. The images of when I had met up with Laurent touched my vision. "I remember." I was baffled by this. "I remember you—you saved me from Laurent—when he was going to kill me."

Jacob bobbed his head up and down. "Thanks for saving me, then. I'd probably be dead if—"

A low growl came from Jacob. "Right. Let's not talk about that."

Jacob huffed and moved back. I did the same, grabbing his jeans. In the second that I turned back to grab them, there was a loud ripping sound that was similar to one before. Jacob was standing in front of me totally naked, again. I was mortified. "Can I have them?" Jacob put his hand out for his jeans. He could only be a half a foot away from me.

I shoved them at him and continued to stare at the trees. Before he could put his pants all the way back on I took another glance down at his manhood. I felt guilty and somewhat naughty for doing it. I couldn't help it. He had such a good body.

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**You have no idea how many times I've rewritten this chapter…I think about four. But, his has got to be my favorite chapter that I have written so far so I tried to make it really good. The next one is going to be even better but I'm not going to give away any spoilers.**

**Make sure you PM me or leave me a review about what I should do about the POV situation. You can also vote on my poll. Either way, I don't care. Should I keep it in Bella's? Give Jacob a few chapters here and there? Let me know.**

**Reviews = Love**


	12. The Beginning Of Something New

**If you didn't notice, I did change the rating to M for the future chapters. *wink, wink* I think we all know what that means…**

**I was experiencing a bit of a writer's block last week. I knew what I wanted to write but for some reason I couldn't get my thoughts together. For now, I think I'm back to normal, so no worries. And so you know, I wrote this chapter on the five hour plane ride and in the LA airport. New Moon premiere!**

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We were back at Jacob's house. Billy had already left in the short time of when I had last talked to him left to go down to the Clearwater's. The house was empty except for Jacob and me. I liked it this way, when it was the two of us. I cherished the quiet times that we had together.

I couldn't get the picture of Jacob's naked body out of my head. It was an image that was burned into my memory. Every time that I would think about it, a smile would start to form across my lips. I tried so hard to hold it back, in fear that Jacob would notice and know why I was smiling.

He had noticed. "What are smiling at?"

I giggled nervously, the image popping back up again. "Nothing," I said, followed by another laugh.

"It's obviously something." He looked over at me suspiciously. "I bet I know what it is."

"What do you think it is?"

"You tell me." He was being smug about it now. He wanted me to say it out loud so that he could get his ego busted .As if it could go any higher than it already was.

"Well, I you must know," I pressed on, hoping up on the countertop. My hands extended out in front of me so that the palms of my hands were facing down on the counter. "I was thinking about earlier today."

"What about earlier today?" he asked, trying to be casual about it. He knew what I was thinking about.

"Don't act like you don't know," I playfully said. "I'm talking about earlier when you just decided to get completely naked in front me. Was that really _necessary_?"

"Yeah, it was," he concluded with a sexy smile. "My clothes are not going to pop in and out of existence every time that I phase back, Bella." He brought his brows closer together. "You've really been thinking about my naked body all this time?"

My mouth fell open. "It's not something that you forget about."

Jacob chuckled. "Maybe if you hadn't stared so much…" he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Don't accuse me! Flip the situation around. I'm sure that if I was standing naked in front of you, you would be staring."

"How about we test that theory," he said confidently, moving closer to me.

I put two hands onto his bare chest and tried to push him back. He didn't even move an inch. I dropped my hands, feeling nervous. He caught them and held then back up against his chest. Jacob took another step closer. "Bella, you know that I'll never hurt you. I mean, before, I didn't know. Just know that—"

I cut him off. "I know."

Jacob took several deep breaths before continuing. "I'm going to tell you something that I probably shouldn't but…I think you might want to know."

I nodded for him to finish. "There is a _bloodsucker_ in town."

It took me a few minutes to understand him. The term _bloodsucker_ had confused me. "Oh, you mean a vampire."

"Unfortunately, yes."

Images flashed through my mind. Victoria stood there, in the woods were we had once been. Her wild red hair flew around her face. Her eyes were red and crazy looking.

I gasped. "What?" Jacob asked, suddenly alerted.

"Oh, goodness." My voice was in a soft whisper, but it was a terrifying sound. "She has red hair, doesn't she?"

Jacob jerked his whole body upright. "How did you know that?"

My mind spun. No correct sentences were forming. Words were on the tip of my tongue but I couldn't manage to get them out. "Bella, look at me." Jacob took his hand and put it under my chin.

"Her name's Victoria," I spat out. Saying the name out loud sent a shiver down my spine. "She's after _me_." My voice had turned into a cry.

"_You_? Wait—why you?" His words were rushed.

"I-I-I'm," I stuttered. I could not form any words or sentences. Tears filled my eyes as the horror struck through me like lightning. I was facing reality. "She—"

Before I could finish, the front door swung open. My head turned toward the entrance to see who it was. The next thing in knew, Jacob had grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to his bedroom. "Stay quiet, okay? They don't know that you're here. They…might take it the wrong way," he explained, letting go of my before closing the door gently behind him.

I leaned up against the door and pressed my ear to where the wooden frame was. I knew that eavesdropping was wrong but I wanted to know what they were saying.

"Hey," was the first thing that Jacob said.

"Dude, what's up with you? You seem a little nervous about something." I recognized the voice to be Embry. "Everything okay?"

"What are you talking about?" Jacob shot back. "I'm fine."

"You hiding something, Black?" Paul asked sarcastically. Paul's voice was never something that I could forget. "How about that leech-lover? Are you stashing her under your bed for safe keeping? That's actually not a bad idea. Think about it. You could just fuck her whenever you would like to." The boy's harsh words hit me hard.

"Shut up!" Jacob yelled, his tone loud and frightening. "Don't talk about her like that!"

There was some brief movement before it got quiet. I covered my mouth to keep me from breathing so loud. You could hear a pin drop. "Calm down." Sam spoke his words deeply and in an orderly form.

"We could always take this outside," Paul suggested. "Or maybe you don't have time. You've probably be visiting with your leech-lover all this time."

"Come on, Paul, knock it off," Embry said, trying not to get in the middle of things. "You know he's sensitive about the _Bella_ subject."

Paul wouldn't stop. He continued on with his harsh accusations, trying to provoke Jacob. "Well, it's not like I blame him. She _is _a hot piece of ass. I sure would mind fucking her senseless. In fact, I think she would enjoy it."

All sorts of noises came after that. Loud bangs came from the kitchen and they followed out the front room and outside. The house went quiet again and I assumed that I was alone. That was until I heard footsteps in the front room coming towards me. I got up and tiptoed to the corner of the room, behind the door. Jacob's bedroom door swung open and almost knocked me in the face. I pressed myself into the wall as the shadow of a figure was present in the doorway.

It had to have been Embry. He took a step in and remained there for a minute. I was afraid that he was going to realize that I was there. Embry sighed and grabbed a hold of the handle, about to walk out, when I shifted my body to the right and caused my head to hit the back of the wall. There was barely any sound to it but Embry stopped in his tracks. The door slowly opened again and shut behind Embry as he stood there, his back facing me. He put his fingers onto his temple and faced me. "Oh, no."

"You don't understand," I began. "It's not what you think. You see—"

"Bella, I'm not here to put you on trial," he sighed. Embry's eyes narrowed. "Do you know?"

"Know what?" I played dumb.

"_Us_? Did he tell you?" His hands and arms started to shake.

"Yeah, I-I know what you are but Jake didn't tell me. I figured it out on my own," I explained, my eyes flashing down to his shaking limbs.

"You figured it out on your own," he repeated as the shaking of his hands decreased until it was gone entirely.

"What should I do now?"

"Wait here. I'll tell Jacob. Don't worry, though, I won't tell the others you were here. Paul would bust a vein." Embry walked out of the bedroom in one stride and went out the back door, into the woods.

I pulled myself up onto the counter for the second time. The dark wash jeans that I was wearing were still clean and not dirtied from the day's activities. As I removed my brown coat I saw that I had on a light blue top that had a slight V shape to it. The material was tight around my small waist and chest. I had never worn anything that showed off my 36 B's before, and was slightly uncomfortable with that fact. Jacob would surely notice.

I stared down the clock, watching as the minutes went by. There was no noise, not even the wind against the house. It was dead silent. All I could hear was the beat of my own heart.

"Bells," Jacob yelled. I jumped, startled, and saw him coming towards me. "I am so sorry. What Paul said…Damn, I feel terrible about that. It was really disrespectful." He sighed angrily. "That's Paul for you."

Jacob rested his hands about a quarter of an inch from my slim thighs. I took a breath in and his eyes traveled down to my chest, lingering there for a few seconds, and then moving back up to my eyes. "Bella," he breathed, his warm breath hitting my neck.

Was I ready for this? It wasn't like I would be betraying anyone but myself. Could I let Jacob heal me and fill the space inside of me that had been punched in by Edward and his departure? Was I willing to? My mind was not made up.

Jacob's hands slid up to my jaw and stayed there. I closed my eyes, leaning forward so that my forehead rested onto his. Slowly, I tilted my head and moved my mouth down to his. Jacob pressed his warm lips to mine. It was an instant shock. His mouth moved against mine in unfamiliar ways that I had never known before. His lips moved faster as I mimicked his movements. Excitement filled me.

Jacob let his hand straight down across my chest and latched onto my legs. He moved them up to my thighs, pulling me closer to his body and opening my legs so that he could step in the middle. Jacob's lips slipped down my jaw and onto my neck. I leaned into him, my cheek rubbing against his black hair.

I pulled him down towards me and smashed my lips to his. My own hands ran up his back, feeling every muscle of his smooth skin. My legs hooked around his waist. I felt the hole in my chest filling back up and sealing itself.

I wondered how far he was going to let me go. Jacob's tongue slipped into my mouth. He pressed on my back and further pushing me into his warm body. His hands roamed up my shirt, pulling it up halfway so that our stomach's touched.

_Our first kiss_, I told myself.

Jacob pulled away first. I was about to protest when Jacob spoke. "Wow," he exhaled. "That was way better than I have ever imagined it."

I smiled and for the first time in a while, I felt complete.

**Love it? Review!**

**Sorry if I had a lot of grammer mistakes in this chapter, i didn't have time to go back and re-read it and look it over.**

**I'm just glad I got this chapter up today—or at least I think it's being posted tonight. I'm getting my friend to post it since I won't be here to do it. She better post this! Anyway, thank you to all my loyal reviewers. I love from the bottom of my heart.**


	13. It's A Werewolf Thing

**This chapter will defiantly clear some things up for the readers who aren't so sure about '_something'_. I'm not going to say what it is because that will ruin a part of the chapter. I think you will all be pleasantly surprised.**

**On another note—New Moon! It was amazing! You are going to love it. *SPOILER* *SPOILER* *SPOILER* Poor Eric is practically crying in one scene…It's the funniest thing.**

We were still so close together. The warmth radiated off of Jacob's chest and onto mine. Neither of us knew what to say.

"_Be happy, always_," the voice told me. I knew that I would be the last time I ever heard him echo in my mind.

_Goodbye, _I mentally told him, as if he could really hear me.

It was like turning a new page in a book—or maybe opening a new one. Jacob was a new beginning, my new beginning. When I looked up to see his face, I noticed something new in his eyes. It was the same thing that I had seen when I had come to comfront Jacob that first day, and when I found out that he was a werewolf.

"Bella," he whispered. "Have you ever heard of _imprinting_?"

I shook my head. "Well it's sort of a werewolf thing. It's like finding your soul mate, the one you know that you are meant to be with. What can I compare it to?" He thought for a moment. "Like love at first sight. That sort of thing, but way stronger."

"Oh? Did you imprint?" I went into a panic stricken mode. Did he imprint on some other girl? What was he trying to tell me?

"Yes, I did. Before, I wasn't sure. I mean, I couldn't tell whether or not it had happened.I thought that there was a possibility that it did happen but we were all stomped about it. But, after that, I _know_ that I did. It all feels so right. Bella, I imprinted on you."

"You did?"

"Yeah, I did. I could feel it deep in bones and it was the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. _You_ are the most amazing thing that has happened to me." He cocked his head to the side. "You mean everything to me."

A mixture of emotions hit me. I felt relief and excitement for the most part. For once, I was happy.

"I love you," he told me in his husky voice. I opened my mouth to say something but Jacob put his fingers over my lips. "I don't want you to say it until you're ready."

I wasn't ready, not for that. It would be a big step that I wasn't yet ready to conquer. So I let my fingers run up his arms, going over all of his wonderful muscles. He did not look sixteen at all. More like twenty-five. I giggled in my girlish excitement. There was a beautiful, tall, and dark man standing before me, and he was all mine. The one thing that every girl wished for. "What now?" I wondered aloud.

"Well, a number of things. First, I have to tell the pack…I might wait to get them without Paul there. He's got a bad temper, as you've seen…" he trailed off. I remembered the earlier encounter that I had listened to. I wondered what all had happened. I reminded myself to bring it up later. "Then—" Jacob's fall fell before he had a chance to finish.

"What?"

His hands balled up into fists. "What were you going to say about the bloodsucker? When we were talking, before they interrupted."

My happy mood vanished. All the nightmares came back to me. Victoria was like a horror movie, and I was the one who was going to die in the end. I started to sob.

"She's coming for me." I dropped my head against Jacob's chest. He held me there, tight and secure. "This all happened a while ago when I was with…Edward. Remember when I was in the hospital in Phoenix?"

"Yeah."

There was a long pause before I could speak. This was going to be the first time that I had told anyone else about this. "Victoria's mate, James, was tracking me and we had to leave. He was going to kill me. Then, Edward ended up killing James and Victoria got pretty pissed off about it. I guess she's avenging his death now."

I was surprised that Jacob even understood a word that I had said through all my blubbering. He wiped the tears away from my face. "When did you find this out?"

I pulled away. "In the forest. Laurent told me before you went after him. He said"—I could barely say the words—"that it would be better for him to kill me because he would make it painless." Through the whole thing my voice was cracking.

Jacob's face filled with shock and anger. My voice cracked when I said, "She wants me dead, simple as that." Having to explain it was the worst thing in the world.

He didn't say anything, just stared at me with wide eyes and shaking hands. I reached out and grabbed them and when I did, the shaking stopped. "I'm only human. I can't do anything to prevent her from getting to me. It's only a matter of time until—"

"No," he cut me off in a whisper. Jacob intertwined our fingers and brought them up to his chest. "I promise that she will not get within a mile of you. She won't hurt you."

It was hard to believe. "Victoria is very determined," I reminded him.

"Think about it this way—there is five of _us_ and one of her. I think we can handle it."

"_We_? What are you talking about? You can't go after her," I franticly told him. The idea of Jacob meeting up with Victoria was one of the scariest things I could ever imagine. Aside from the fact that he could get hurt or injured; seeing them, in my mind, together was enough to make me want to scream.

He lifted me off of the counter and onto the floor. The height difference was not one of my favorite things. Whatever I looked like next to him was probably not flattering.

"I'll make you safe again Bella." His words were honest and stern. "I'll do anything for you."

"Jake," I began. "It's too dangerous. You have no idea what she is capable of." It was so late. Jacob had already placed his hand on the small of my back and was leading me towards the door.

"We have to go see the pack. That bloodsucker is out there somewhere and we need to figure out a plan." The wheels were already spinning in Jacob's head, along with the world for me.

I stopped as we neared the front door. "But," I protested. Jacob leaned over and kissed me lightly on the lips. The contact gave me a warm feeling inside, deep within my repaired heart. Jacob had fully repaired me, healed me. One month ago I would have said that it was a crazy thought to think that I could ever be fully healed again and feel the things that I did now. I was way wrong.

I grabbed Jacob's neck and pulled him down even further. I bumped back into the wall, feeling Jacob's body press into me. He placed his hands on my small waist as he kissed down the line of my jaw. I was beginning to wonder what this _all_ meant.

"Jake," I whispered, and he pulled away. He didn't look like he was done with me. "Are we_ together_?"

It was the stupidest question. I felt like an idiot for even asking it but I needed conformation. "Do you want to be?"

For once, I could be entirely honest. "Yes, I really do."

"That's good. I've always wanted to be with you since the first time we met. I couldn't think about anyone else but you. You are my imprint. That's something stronger than soul mates or love at first sight. I knew it was you from the beginning. The first time I saw you, I knew it would be you and only you."

"How sweet," I replied. All was better now. I could finally take that breath of fresh air that I had been waiting for the past months.

Jacob gave me a reassuring smile, my smile. "Come on." He nudged me towards the door. "You can meet Emily, Sam's fiancée. I think you'll really like her." Jacob had once mentioned Emily when we were in the woods and he was showing me his wolf form.

I was hesitant. The idea of going to see all the werewolves was intimidating. "I don't think they like me that much."

Jacob must have picked up on my hesitance and nervousness. "Okay, how about this. I'll drop you off at Emily's and introduce the two of you. Then, I'll go find Sam and the others to tell them. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yes." Even though meeting Emily was enough to make me nervous, the fact that it would just be us was comforting.

Jacob left for his bedroom and came back with his keys. I sigh. "It must be a drag having to drive me around when you can just strip off your clothes and _run_." I tried to keep a straight face but I couldn't help but smile. "Must be boring."

"As long as you're with me, nothing will ever be boring. Plus, it gives us more time to talk. Being away from you is going to be hard enough."

We stepped outside into the hazy weather. A thick cloud of gray hung over the skies with some light shining through. Jacob opened the car door for me and I got in. As soon the door closed, he was opening his side. Jacob must be enjoying the speed part of it all.

"What did you mean when you said that it was going to be hard to be without me?" I asked when he started to pull out of the driveway. The trees were so dark with green from the ton of rain and snow we had gotten over the past month. It was hard to tell what direction we were going in.

"That's another part to the imprinting." Jacob was a thousand times happier now. Talking about the subject made him perk up and focus. "It'll hurt to be without you. It's almost a physical pain."

"Wow. That _strong_."

He smiled widely. "Yeah, it's the craziest thing." He turned to me. "But, it's also the best thing in the world."

The drive to Emily's was short, maybe five minutes at the most. Jacob was quiet and calm the whole ride there as I sat there nervous to the core. What were they going to think of me?

Emily's house was nothing that I would have expected. It was about the same size as Jacob's but different in the front. Jacob walked ahead of me as I slugged behind. I was hoping that Emily liked me. What is she didn't?

"Bella," Jacob encouraged, opening the front door like it was his own place. "No one is going to _bite_ you." I caught Jacob's play on words and gave a weak smile. I would have to remind him that I did not need any reminders of vampires.

It was like stepping into a whole new world. Emily's house was so inviting and warm. "Em, it's me!" Jacob yelled, taking my hand again.

"I'm in here!" a sweet female voice yelled back.

We both stepped into the kitchen. "I have someone that I think you'd like to meet."

Emily put down a bowl and turned to see me. She had long black hair that came to her elbows. I saw the two scars that ruined her face. One went down form the corner of her eye and to the corner of her mouth. The other was small in sized but had a redder tone to it. I could tell that they were old scars even though the red color still plagued her pretty face. I quickly looked into her eye so she would notice that I was staring.

"Hello," she said, examining me for a minute. "Ah, you must be Bella."

"How'd you know?"

Emily focused on Jacob. "Fits the description," she explained. "Jacob here loves to talk about you when we have conversations."Under his skin, I could see the faint color or red forming. Jacob was blushing and I was loving every second of it.

Jacob walked across the room to Emily. He bent over the counter as she picked up her bowl again and resumed her task. "Looks like you'll have another imprint around here," he hinted, turning towards me.

Emily dropped the bowl. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Why that's lovely!"

Emily made her way around the counter and came up to me. She threw her arms around me and gave me a tight squeeze. "It will be so good to have another girl around here." She pulled away. "I can finally have a conversation with someone other than five boys that just want to be fed."

"Here," she said, taking my arm and bringing me into the kitchen. "I'm in the need of some girl time. I'm around those boys all day and I can never have a normal conversation with anyonw of them. They talk about the most uninteresting stuff." She then shooed Jacob out. "Go! Sam went towards the border with the rest of them."

Jacob headed for the back. I watched him as he walked. Imprint or not, it was going to be hard to see him leave. He lingered at the door, watching me too. There was a connection between us that I had never had in the past. This was special.

**I apologize for the grammar mistakes that I have made in this chapter. I rushed through it and I will admit that I didn't even re-read it to check for mistakes. I really wanted to get this posted since I won't be able to post a chapter until next week. I have a huge writing paper due that I have to get working on. High School pretty much sucks.**

**I really want to get to 100 reviews! I only need ten more…that's where you come in. *wink, wink* Reviews are the absolute best!**


	14. Girl Talk

**100 reviews! You guys are the best. I love you all, and my reviews.**

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Emily and I worked on getting dinner together for the boys. She kept telling me that they would be back in a bit, around the same time that they always were. Emily talked about everything possible; telling me all about what her life was like before and after Sam entered it. She said that imprinting changed her life for the better, for the both of them.

"It's wonderful," she said putting the sandwiches together. "It's so nice to finally have another girl to talk to. I'm usually here alone cooking throughout the day."

There was a long pause before she continued again.

"I can't imagine life without Sam. I'm sure it's the same for you—not wanting to be without Jacob. You'll never have to worry about anything ever again. I remember how miserable it was for Jacob when he first turned. He didn't smile anymore. He would stare off into space, no doubt thinking about you. It was hard to watch him. He always looked so…so sad and angry. Today was the first time in awhile that I've seen him so happy, the Jacob I know."

Emily always knew what to say. She wasn't that much older than me, only nineteen with an upcoming birthday. I found that I really liked her. I knew that we would become good friends over the years to come.

"He's loved you for a long time," Emily mentioned. "I saw the way he looked at you today. Sam's told me that…" she trailed off, twisting her head towards me. "This may be a bit of a shock but they _hear_ each other when they're in their wolf form."

My eyebrows moved up to the space of my forehead. "Oh, wow, that's…interesting?" I couldn't find the right word to use. It _was_ a shock but nothing I couldn't handle.

Emily laughed at my reaction. "Alright, back to what I was saying. They hear each other, in their heads, right? Well, Sam tells me that Jacob really loved you. He said it was like nothing he had ever seen before. Seeing and feeling what Jacob was. The gradual love that was building for you."

I leaned over the counter and rested my cheek onto my palm. "I wish he was here," I sighed.

"I know how you feel."

"So Jake told me that you and Sam are getting married," I recalled. "You're both so young. Why rush?"

Emily shrugged. "Why not? We'll be together for as long as we live already so we decided to go ahead and do it. I don't think it matters whether we get married now or in five years."

"You have a point," I agreed. "When's the wedding?"

"We haven't decided on a date yet. Sam is always out with the boys and we haven't had enough time to sit down and talk about it. And with all the stress with the vampire in town…"

"Maybe sometime in the spring or summer," I suggested. "If I were you I'd go with spring. Supposedly it's the best time to get married, or at least that's what I read in a magazine when my mom was getting remarried. I guess it's because the weather starts to get nice or something. I really don't know."

We both giggled. "Spring," she contemplated. "That's soon." She looked like she was actually thinking about it.

"What about…May?"

Emily closed her eyes. I thought she might be imagining her wedding. "May," she repeated in a sweet tone. "May is a pretty nice month here. Not too much rain, nice weather and clearer skies."

"The sooner the better," I offered.

I wanted Jacob back. The absence of him was weighing down on me. I worried, probably more than I should have. With every passing moment, I worried more. Victoria was on the loose and having Jacob out there waiting to kill her was a frightening thought. Victoria would kill anyone in her path, especially someone that meant so much to me.

Time seemed to drag on forever. It was just Emily and me in the house. We sat down on her couch with mugs of tea and resumed talking about her wedding. She was grateful that she could finally talk about it with someone else and plan it out. We spent hours talking until Jacob walked through the door.

"Jacob!" I set my mug down on the table and ran over to him, throwing my arms around him. He picked me up into a hug.

I felt Jacob smile into my long hair. "I missed you," he whispered in a low and quite voice. He set me back down onto the ground. "What have you two been doing all this time?"

"Talking," I replied vaguely. "What happened?"

"Well I told them and they were cool with it. You know, happy for me." He smiled, causing me to smile back. "We ran into the bloodsucker though. That's why we took so long."

I waited with intense eyes. "And?"

"We chased her up to the Canada border. I don't think she'll be back anytime soon," he explained.

_At least she's gone for now_, I decided.

"Come on." Jacob took my hand. "Let's get you home."

The drive home was quiet and calming. Jacob was driving my truck back as I clung onto his arm. Both of my hands were wrapped around him, safe and securely. I closed my eyelids and soaked up the warmth that Jacob was giving off.

"I guess having a body temperature of a hundred and eight degrees is a good thing," Jacob said when we pulled into my driveway.

"It's a very good thing. It must be nice to never get cold."

He pressed his cheek onto the top of my head. "It's nice to be able to warm you."

I turned my head towards him, moving my face up to meet his. I extended my neck out and brushed over his lips, into a kiss. Jacob grabbed a hold of my waist and kissed me back. His lips moved passionately against mine. This was all so new to me that I didn't know what to do or if I was doing it right.

The porch light turned on and made up both pull apart. Charlie opened the door and stared out at us. He must have heard the roar of my truck.

Jacob opened the door to my truck and grabbed a hold of my waist, helping me down. "Don't worry," he told me in a low voice so that Charlie wouldn't hear. "We'll be out here tonight."

Jacob and I walked up the concrete steps. "Hello, Chief," he greeted Charlie.

"Hey, Jacob. I was starting to worry," he said, turning to me. He glanced down to the hand that was around my waist. His look was approving but guarded. If he only knew what was going on in his daughter's life.

Jacob sighed. "Okay, I'll see you later."

Before I could say or do anything, Jacob leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. I couldn't believe that he had just done this with Charlie only a few feet away. I was immediately embarrassed and uncomfortable with the wide eyes full of shock that were staring at me. Jacob took off down the steps and down the street, where I was sure that when he was out of sight he would go into the woods and phase.

Charlie and I stood there as I watched him leave. I twisted to him. The only reasonable thing I could think to say as, "Only a matter of time, right?"

"Well," Charlie started, overly happy with the news. "This is wonderful."

I nodded and skimmed by him to get into the warm house before the wind made me cold again. I still felt warm from Jacob and I wanted to keep it that way. "It _is_ wonderful," I whispered to myself as I climbed the stairs and into the safety of my own bedroom.

I was so tired from the day's events that I changed clothes and got into bed, pulling the covers up and over my body. Getting to sleep was going to be a challenge. Even though I knew that I was safe, it didn't feel that way at all.

Halfway through the night I was still awake. It was late—my clock read two o'clock—and I desperately wanted sleep. My mind was still racing.

My window was open, something that I hadn't noticed before. My curtains blew in the wind, towards me. I flipped on the light to go close the window. I threw the covers back and slowly moved across the room, slightly blinded by the brightness. A low thud made my eyes fly open. I was relieved to see that it was Jacob.

"You scared me," I whispered, afraid that Charlie would wake up if I spoke to loud. "What are you doing?"

"I was right outside and saw your light turn on. I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"I'm fine; I just didn't remember having my window open. It must have stayed like that since last night. Plus, I couldn't get to sleep." Jacob looked like he needed some much needed rest. "Can you stay with me tonight?"

He looked back out the window. I knew that I would have to convince him. "I don't think they will mind."

After some thought, he agreed. "Okay. Get in bed."

I moved back across the room and huddled underneath the covers. Jacob stayed on top since he would be burning if he got under the sheets. I picked my head up and rested it against Jacob's shoulder, turning into his neck. I kissed him lightly, putting my arm on his chest.

Jacob fell asleep first, within a matter of seconds. I felt guilty that he had to be out all day trying to find Victoria and then during the night he had to be out protecting me. I put the thought out of my head and shut my eyelids.

_I was walking through the wood, stumbling and tripping over my own feet. There was an unknown shadow that was following me, making its presence known but not revealing itself. I twisted in all directions to see what way to go, my decision not known._

_I was scared and alone. Something was following me, stalking me. They were playing cat and mouse with me, waiting for the exact moment to strike._

_Victoria ascended from the sky, dropping down from the trees. Her red eyes were as wild as her hair and face. She stared me down with a wicked smile on her face that was made of pure evil. She raised her finger up to her lip and bit down on it, taunting me. She bared her teeth at me, ready to launch herself._

_She got into position and pounced._

I gasped loudly and shot straight up in bed. I had woken up in a cold sweat. Sunlight poured through my window, comforting me. Vampires wouldn't dare show themselves in the sun. Today would be a day without worry.

I shook the nightmare off and quietly got out of bed. Jacob was still asleep and looking peaceful. It seemed like it would be a sin to wake him.

I tiptoed across the room to my closet, snatching out some clean clothes, and heading to the bathroom. I needed a shower to fully shake off the nightmare that I had.

When I stepped out of the shower, I grabbed my towel and slipped it around my body. The clothes that I had picked out were not matching so I figured that I would pick out different ones. I didn't know if Jacob was still asleep so I stepped lightly into my room. Jacob was up and sitting on my bed, facing me. "Hey," he said before glancing down my still wet body. I had nothing but a towel on.

"Hey, you're up." I went over to my closet and rummaged through the shirts and pants that hung on the hangers. I ended up choosing a long sleeve red top and gray pants to go with it. When I twisted back around, Jacob was standing before me. He was very close.

"I don't find it fair," he mumbled.

"What's not fair?" I was getting more nervous by the second with him being so close to my body.

He smirked. "You've seen me naked and yet, I haven't seen you."

I laughed out loud. "Hey, I didn't ask to see you naked, Jake. I guess you'll have to wait…" I teased.

"Do I have to?" he groaned.

I rolled my eyes, turning to the door so I could get changed in the bathroom. "Don't worry; I won't make you wait too long."

Once I was changed, I went downstairs where Jacob was. He was leaning against the wall that was close to the door. He was thoughtful and happy like always. He met my eyes when I hit the ground floor. "What do you want to do today?" he asked.

"I don't care. What do you want to do?"

"Well, we could go pick up Rebecca and Rachel at the airport," he suggested. I was thrilled at the idea.

"That's perfect."

***

**Reviews=Love. Really, they do.**


	15. Predator and Prey

**I have good news! I posted another story that I think you will all enjoy. It's a completely different take on New Moon—here's a hint: Bella turns into a werewolf when Edward left. It's also a Jacob/Bella story. Check it out, it's called _A New Beginning._**

**_***_**

I hadn't seen Rachel and Rebecca since I was about five when I was here in the summer. Jacob and I were driving his car to pick them up at the airport considering that my truck could not fit us all.

"Do they _know_ that you're a werewolf?" I asked Jacob.

"No they don't. I'm not allowed to tell them."

I was confused. "Why not? They're your sister's."

I didn't make any sense to me.

Jacob started to explain. "No one else is supposed to know. I mean, Embry's mom doesn't even know. She'll yell and yell at him each morning because he leaves during the night, but he stands there and takes it. It's a secret we can't tell."

"Wow," I responded. "So, me knowing is almost like a_ scandal_. What would you have done if I didn't know?"

He didn't respond right away. "It would have been the absolute worst thing in the world. But, the good thing is that you're my imprint. That means I _would _have eventually found you and saw you, so I would have realized that you were my imprint."

"It was terrible without you being in my life, Bella," he continued on. "I knew that something was pulling me towards you, like you were my other half. I didn't understand it. Sam and the others were careful about what they thought. They didn't want everything to come as a shock all at once. After I saw for the first time after my transformation, I knew there was something…different. That's when Jared let it slip about all whole imprinting thing." He stopped to take a breath. "I wish they would have told me in the beginning. It would have saved me a lot of confusion."

I slid over the seats so that I was closer to him. "At least you know now. We're together, and that's all that matters."

We arrived at the airport as the twins flight was landing. Jacob told me to stay in the car because he wanted Rachel and Rebecca to be surprised. I waited anxiously, tapping my fingers dashboard.

Jacob hadn't told the twins about our relationship. I was hoping it would be okay with them. Hopefully, in the future, I would be getting two new sisters.

I got out of the car when I saw them coming. Rachel saw me first. She dropped her luggage to the ground, knocking both Rebecca and Jacob as she rushed over. "Bella Swan!" she shrieked. I was surprised that she even remembered who I was.

She threw her entire body weight into me, and we were close to falling to the ground. "No way!" she yelled, pulling away. "Look at you! You're gorgeous!"

Rebecca came up behind her sister and pushed her out of the way so she could hug me, too. "It's so good to see you, Bella."

Rebecca had always been the calmer one.

The way back to Jacob's place was filled with chatter. Some of the talk was about me, much to my displeasure. Rachel and Rebecca bantered back and forth with Jacob—the usual sibling rivalry—as I stayed silent in the passenger's seat. Even if I wanted to say something, I don't think I would have been heard.

When we arrived at the house, the twins ran up the steps and through the door to go greet their father.

"Jake, I think I might be deaf," I joked, climbing out of the car and closing the door behind me. "The three of you are so loud."

Jacob laughed. "Believe me, I know."

Neither of us was ready to go inside. We slipped into the back, under the cover of the trees, and into his garage. "We never finished those bikes," Jacob mentioned, pointing over to where the bikes were. There wasn't much left to be done.

"That's right," I remembered. "I guess we got too busy."

"You still want to finish them, right?"

I paused. "Um, yeah, definitely." I gave him a fake smile that he bought. I didn't have a reason for the bikes any more, to be honest. I only wanted them so I could be reckless. That was far from what I wanted now.

"Cool. We can do that another day. Preferably a day when it's raining and there's nothing else to do," he told me. "Hey, I have a question."

"What?"

"Remember when you came here and Quil and Embry stopped by, and I made the mistake of leaving them alone with you?" I nodded and he went on. "I was wondering…when they asked if…if you were…" he didn't finish.

"A virgin?" I questioned, figuring that was the word he wanted.

He looked down at the ground. "Yeah." He stretched out his hand and ran it through his hair. "I'm, I'm just wondering."

I moved over to him, taking his hands. "No worries, Jake. I'm not_ tainted_. Edward and I never…it never happened. He barely even kissed me," I said through a smile. It no longer hurt to think about Edward or any of the Cullens. I had moved on and been healed. That was all in the past.

Jacob didn't try to hide his pleasure. "Good."

My eyes narrowed. "What about you?"

Jacob snorted. "Oh, please. You are the only girl I have ever wanted to fu—"

"Jake! Don't you dare finish that sentence!" I snapped.

He shrugged. "It's the truth, Bella. But, to answer your question, it's a yes. Unfortunately, I'm still a virgin." He leaned in and winked at me. "Probably not for long, though."

"Hey, maybe I'll make you wait," I teased. "You're sixteen and I'm eighteen. I could get arrested for rape. Think about it."

He laughed out loud at the light joke. "Don't worry. I would never call the cops on you."

"Sure," I slurred.

No one had told me Charlie was going to be here. I left the boys alone to talk and watch whatever game was on. I kept a close eye on Jacob and Charlie. We had not discussed whether we were going to start telling people about our relationship. Before I could Jacob aside, Rachel came to my side and pulled me away.

"Let's go," she said. "It's boring being in the same room with my brother and those old guys."

She towed my off to the room she had shared with Rebecca for so many years. It was still decorated with all their old stuff and the newer things that they had brought with them. I like their room a lot. The walls were painted yellow and the both had matching bedspread that were orange.

She went over and sat on the bed. "Do you know what my brothers intentions are with you?"

"_Intentions?_"

"Well, it's seems to me that there is something going on between the two of you. I mean, come on! Jacob's had a crush on you since we were like five." She bit her fingernail and patted the spot beside her. "Spill!"

I bit my lower lip. Should I tell her? I barely even know the girl and she was acting like we were best friends that told each other everything. Plus, she was Jacob's sister. Then again, I did want to tell _someone_. I wanted a chance to open up and spill my heart out. That wasn't the girl that I was, but I would've liked the option.

"Well, we're dating, sort of."

"And…," Rachel said, giving a hand motion for me to go on.

"He loves me," I blurted out. "I think I love him, too, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to say it yet. I don't want it to come out sounding stupid or dumb. I'm not sure what to do."

I was looking for some advice. "That's so sweet," Rachel squealed.

Before she could say anything else, the bedroom door swung open, startling us both. Rebecca walked in holding a book, not looking up from it. I noticed the small diamond ring on her finger. I had forgotten all about Jacob telling me that she got married not too long ago.

"Close the door," Rachel hissed at her sister. "Can't you see we are talking here?"

"Sorry," she murmured, moving back across the room and shutting the door. "I'm reading so keep it quiet."

"Well I have some news that will make put down that book, Becca." Rachel nudged me on the arm, indicating that she was going to tell Rebecca what I had told her. I did not remember Rachel being a gossip. Maybe she was just excited about the news.

Rebecca laid down on her bed. "I doubt that."

"Get this, Jacob and Bella are dating!" she squealed again.

"No way!" Rebecca dropped her book and sat straight up, smiling. "Are you serious?"

I smiled back. "It's true," I whispered.

Rachel bounced up and down. For being almost twenty, she was acting like she was thirteen and got her first kiss. "They're in love, too! Can you believe it? Our Jacob, our _brother_ with Bella!" she kept her voice in a low whisper so that no one in the other room would here.

Rebecca moved across the room and jumped on the bed next to me so that I was in the middle. "Tell us _everything_! Don't leave a single detail out!"

It was hard to tell them _everything_ when I couldn't tell them that Jacob was a werewolf. That was the biggest part. I had to avoid mentioning those kinds of things. There was no clear explanation for it. I knew that they would see through me if I lied but I didn't have much of a choice. I couldn't tell them the truth.

Luckily, there was a knock on the door. Jacob pushed it open and poked his head through. "Talking about me?"

Rachel and Rebecca grabbed a pillow and slung it out the door. Jacob ducked back as they flew at him. "Get out," they both yelled at the same time, in sync.

"I need to borrow Bella for a minute if you don't mind," he explained.

I got up and headed for the door before they could protest. I wanted to be with Jacob any chance I got.

"Jake," I silently whispered and the door closed behind me. "Do you want to go somewhere else?"

"The beach?"

"Perfect. I could use some fresh air. It was like your sister's were suffocating me with their questions."

Once we were at the beach, I felt at ease. Jacob took my hand and entwined his fingers with mine. Word could not describe how I was feeling at the moment. It was like time had stopped and we were the only two people in the world.

"Jacob, I want to tell you something." The words slipped out, but I did not regret it. This was my chance to let him know how I felt about him. There wasn't even the slightest chance of rejection, considering that Jacob had already told me that he loved me.

Nothing would hold me back.

"Alright, go ahead—"

Jacob stopped short. His hand extended out to the side, brushing against the upper part of my stomach. His gaze turned toward the densely covered woods, then franticly around the beach. "What is it?" I asked, my eyes unfocused and staring up at Jacob's.

Something caught my eye. I turned my neck to the side and looked up at the high cliffs. There, standing bold and confident, was Victoria. I could see her so clearly, like she was right in front of me. Her red hair was flying all around her evil was smiling a crooked smile, showing her white and sharp teeth. Her eyes were dead set on me. She was the predator and I was the prey.

I gasped, reaching for Jacob.

That was all I remembered before my vision was lost and I fell to the ground.

***

**Once again, you should check out my other story that I posted.**

**Review** **please!**


	16. Our Promises

**To all my loyal readers and reviewers, I thank you. **

*******

Someone was holding me, their arms wrapped around me. We weren't moving anywhere but standing still. I knew I was still outside because the wind was blowing in my face and hitting me with full force. The cold air whipped all around me as I was held in someone's arms. It wasn't Jacob, but they felt somewhat like him. Maybe one of the pack members…it had to be. No one else that I knew had muscular arms like this person did.

"Damn, where is he?" I was relieved to hear Embry's voice. He was the one who was holding me.

"What the hell even happened? We leave for ten minutes and that bloodsucker finds her way in. I'm so sick of dealing with her," Paul snapped, clearly agitated. I was glad that I wasn't close to him. Paul got so angry _so_ fast. His temper was a ticking time bomb.

Embry snorted. "Hey, be happy that the leech didn't get any closer to Bella than she did. Jacob would have murdered us all if that happened." He was silent foe a minute, and then laughed. "He'd go for you first."

"Probably would have. Dude, he's in love with the girl…who I think is waking up right now."

I stirred in Embry's arms. "Put me down," I whispered.

"That might not be a very good idea, Bella. You seem a little unfocused at the moment. We wouldn't want you tripping and falling. Jacob would be mad even if I let you take a step on the ground," he explained to me. "If I return you injured, I will get an ass kicking."

My head rolled back. I had a huge headache. "Where's Jacob?"

It was all flowing back to me now. I had seen Victoria on the cliff side, looking beautiful and wildly evil. I was amazing that someone so frightening could possess that kind of beauty. After that I had passed out from fear and shock. She really was here, still, hunting me. I didn't feel safe at all. Even with two werewolves around me, the danger lurked around us.

It was like Embry had been reading my thoughts because he said, "Don't worry, Bella. If that bloodsucker was coming this way, we'd smell her. Nasty things they are. Ugh, they smell disgusting! A sweet icy scent that bugs the hell out of us."

"Burns your nose," Paul agreed. "Worst thing that I've ever smelled."

Embry cracked up laughing. "Dude, try smelling your shoes. _That_ is the worst thing that_ I_ have ever smelled. I'd rather be around bloodsucker all day than have you take those freaking shoes off. "

I smiled, letting a small laugh out that clouded my head. For a split second I thought that maybe I shouldn't have because of Paul's temper. But, his retaliation proved that they were still joking, at least for now they were. "Shut up. Maybe you should try smelling your own stuff, Embry. What did you do? Go up and take a whiff of my shoes when they were just sitting out?"

"Gross," I muttered amongst my small giggles. They could be so funny sometimes but, they argued over the stupidest and littlest things. Picking a fight was talent for Paul.

"Yeah, that's what I do, Paul. I go around sniffing people's shoes like a dog. Come on, dude, be real. I can smell them from across the damn room all the time!" Embry's voice grew louder. "There is a thing called a washer machine. Use it."

I sighed loudly, annoyed by their bickering. "Would you two just be quiet? My head is killing me. Who even cares about the stupid shoes? You are acting like five year olds."

"Sorry, Bella. We'll shut up now. Just don't pass out on me, okay? Jake will flip if he comes back and you're still unconscious."

When Embry started to walk, I opened my eyes up. We were in the middle of the trees, brushing past the green leaves. There was no room to move but they found their way around perfectly. They must know their way around the forest, they were in it every single day. I was jealous that they were so agile and I wasn't. I could trip on a flat surface.

"Where's Jake?" I managed to say. My head wasn't so woozy anymore but I felt light-headed. I tried to stay focused on one spot, thinking that it would help my head.

"Not sure," Embry replied. "He and all the other guys took off after the leech. Hopefully they caught her—"

Paul interrupted with his booming voice. "Are you crazy? I hope they didn't. I want to get a mouthful of that bloodsucker, too."

"Would you shut up?" Embry shouted at Paul. "You must be oblivious. The redhead is after Bella so don't talk about it in front of her. There's no need to freak her out."

"Whatever," Paul remarked as a light drizzle started to fall from the sky.

Jacob was on my mind. I wanted—need to see him. Every part of me ached without him. He was like the other part of me. I need him here; I needed to know that he was okay and that he wasn't hurt. I didn't know what I would do without him, if Victoria hurt him…

"Bella?" Jacob called my name. I smiled, knowing he was alright and safe.

Jacob appeared through the trees, rushing over to me. Embry was already handing me over to him. "I was worried." I told him as he took me in his arms. My head fell gently onto his warm chest. The smell of his skin made me feel better inside, complete.

"How many times do I need to tell you not to worry? I'm perfectly fine," I whispered in my ear.

"I can't help it," I said in defense.

_My _Jacob carried me back to his place. By the time we got there, I was almost soaking from the rain. It had picked up quite a bit in the last few minutes. I was cold and wet. It was extremely unfair that Jacob was so warm and I always had to be freezing. Even when we had come from the forty degree weather outside, Jacob was burning up. I wished that I could be inside his skin, never getting cold.

I decided that I didn't want a shower, I wanted Jacob. I wanted to be near him and have him warm me up instead of the warm water. A shower was nothing compared to Jacob.

"What happened with Victoria?" I asked.

Jacob rummaged through his old clothes that didn't fit him anymore. "We chased her up through a good part of Canada. I don't think she'll be back anytime soon." At his side, Jacob's hands were shaking.

I knew that talking about Victoria bothered Jacob so I moved to a new topic, a distraction, the first one that came to mind. "When are we going to tell Charlie and Billy about us, being together and all? I know they're suspecting, but still. Rachel and Rebecca already know so it's only a matter of time before everyone else finds out. Where are the twins anyways?"

Jacob rolled his eyes. "They are shopping in Port Angeles and are staying there overnight at a friend's." He got suspicious. "What did you tell them?"

"Nothing you don't already know," I said honestly, apart from the one thing I hadn't told him yet. Maybe this would be a good time to do so.

Jacob looked at some clothes and then threw them at me. It was a long blue top and plaid boxers. "Those are from I was twelve, so they should fit you and not be too big. That was before the growth spurt."

"And the whole werewolf thing started," I added, smiling p at him. "Thanks, these are perfect. Where should I change?"

"You can change in here. I'll leave."

When Jacob shut the door behind him I set the clothes down on his head and tried to pull my wet clothes off, starting with my shirt. I made the mistake of wearing a shirt that didn't have buttons up the front. It had a strange material that wrapped around to my back and tied. When I tried to pull it off and over my head, I got stuck. I yanked at the material but it stayed plastered to me, tangled in my hair. I sighed and leaned over, trying a different technique to get my new shirt off. Nothing worked.

"Jacob!" I yelled. A few seconds later I heard him some through his bedroom door. I imagined that he was smirking at the sight. "Help me, please. I'm stuck."

Jacob chuckled. "Hold still," he told me. He came over and slipped his hands under my shirt that was bundled up around my shoulders and over my face. Jacob pulled at it and it fell free from my face. I gasped in a lungful of air. I couldn't breathe with my wet shirt covering my face.

"Thanks," I breathed.

"Do you need any help removing any of your other clothes?" Jacob half-joked. All the blood rushed to my cheeks. He wanted me so bad and was not afraid to make it known.

I pointed to the door. "No! Now get out so I can get dressed."

Jacob sighed. "Okay, okay, I'm going. You can't blame a guy for trying, though."

After I changed, Jacob drove me home. It was a long drive that took forever. I kept myself on full alert, looking for any signs that Victoria might have returned. Her red hair would be the thing to look for; it was so recognizable. I knew, deep in my bones, that Victoria would not give up until she had what she wanted: me. Preferably me dead but I didn't know what she was thinking. In the end, I she did get me, my fate would be sealed.

Tonight, I would be all alone. Charlie was working the night shift and wouldn't get in until afternoon. The wolves would be surrounding the house and I would completely safe. It wouldn't feel that way, though. It _wasn't_ safe. Even if I had werewolves protecting me, Victoria would stop at nothing. Not a thing.

Walking up the steps to my house with Jacob was becoming a usual ritual. Each time he dropped me off and then run back into the wood to be with his brothers. I was lonely when he left but I couldn't be selfish and keep him all to myself. If I asked him to, he would stay, but that wouldn't be fair to the other members of the pack.

"I'm gonna go, now. Don't worry about us, okay? We'll be fine. I promise you that nothing is going to happen to any of us, and that includes you. If you need me you can, I don't know, yell out the window or something."

I laughed at the joke. "Yell out the window? I don't think so." I placed my hand on his check. "You are not a dog or a pet."

Jacob leaned over and lightly kissed me on the lips. I loved the moments like these. It warmed my heart. "Jake, I love you," I blurted out when he pulled away. It was pure truth that I was speaking but it wasn't how I imagained telling him.

I got mad at myself. "Damn! This was so not a good time to say it!"

"No, no, no!" Jacob protested, now smiling. He looked shocked and ecstatic at the same time. "It's the perfect moment." He was telling the truth.

I smiled back. "Good. Because I do love you and I want to be with you forever. Nothing will ever change that, I promise. You see, that's _my _promise to you. One that I will never break."

Jacob wound his hands around my small waist and pulled me into another kiss. This time it was more passionate. "I love you so much, Bella. I always have, always will. No matter what. I promise you that will never change either," he whispered into my ear as his lips pressed onto my neck.

"I know," I replied.

The sun was now going down and the skies were getting grayer by the minute. "It's going to storm," Jacob informed me after he pulled himself away, after much restraint. "Get inside. I'll stop by later to make sure that you're okay."

I nodded. "If you're too busy or caught up in something, make sure you send someone else so that I know everything is fine. I don't want to freak out because I haven't heard anything."

"_I _will come see you, I promise. I could never be too busy for you."

Jacob leaned across me and opened the door, leaving it cracked, indicating that he wanted me to go in. I stepped up the steps and into the doorway, lingering for a minute. "I'll miss you," I told him, wishing her would stay with me.

"I'll miss you, too."

Before he could leave, I grabbed a bunch of material of his shirt and pulled him in toward me. His warm lips met mine and I felt a shudder run down my spine. His warmth always did that to me. I wasn't used to kisses like this. It was different with Edward, always cold and restrained. I liked this a lot better, a whole lot better. I was floating on a cloud.

It wasn't until Jacob removed his lips from mine that I came back to Earth. He kissed me on the forehead and took a lasting look of me before he walked down the steps and into the woods that was in front of my house. I sighed and went into my house.

I walked in as the phone was ringing. I figured it would be Charlie so I rushed over to find it, seeing that it wasn't in its cradle. I found it under one of the couch cushions. "Hello" I answered.

There was no reply.

I could tell that there was someone on the other end but they weren't saying a word. "Hello?" I repeated again.

The phone went dead. This was the fifth hang up that I have gotten. I could always tell someone was listening to me but they wouldn't speak up. They wanted to say _something_, but didn't. It was so bizarre, and quite frankly, starting to freak me out. I hoped that was the last call I ever got.

*******

**So it's rumored that the Eclipse trailer comes out December 26th…I'm wondering if it's true or not. I sure hope so, though. It would be the best late Christmas present in the world.**

**Reviews=Love (and they help me get chapters out faster)**

***kisses***


	17. Those Topaz Eyes

**I'm going to skip over the whole author's notes today. I don't have much so say other than my usual thank you to those who are reading and reviewing. It makes my day to know that you love the story.**

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That night one more of the hang up calls came in. I was beginning to get frightened. Whoever was on the other end was freaking me out. At first I had figured that it was just the wrong number, and then it went to someone's playing a joke on you. It was not either of them. Someone was calling me and deliberately not saying anything. I debated whether I should tell Charlie or not since after all, he was a cop. I decided to tell Jacob first and see what he thinks.

I missed Jacob, I really did. He had only left two hours ago and I was waiting for his return. I sat at the kitchen counter and tapped my nails against the table. When that wasn't doing anything for me, I went over to the kitchen sink and opened the cabinets below it. I got out the cleaning supplies and headed up the steps.

I cleaned the entire bathroom, scrubbing it until the white tile was sparkling. The chemicals were giving me a headache. When I was done with that, I sullenly turned the corner into my room and analyzed what needed to be done. My bedroom was pretty clean except for the few clothes and school papers that were on the ground. _Homework,_ I reminded myself. _You don't want to end up failing. _The bad thing was I didn't remember what the homework was and I hadn't written it down. I was screwed.

I sighed, spreading out on my bed. There was nothing to keep my mind busy. Even though we had five hundred channels there was still not anything good or worth watching on. Isn't that always the case?

Lucky for me, I looked over and there was a new scrapbook that Angela had given me. I walked over to it and examined the cover. It was all white with gold swirls going up the sides. Sitting down at my desk, I flipped through the blank pages. I thought for a moment. I was going to make this a scrapbook of Jacob and me. I smiled at the thought. I remembered having a bunch of pictures of us when we where little in my closet somewhere. I could use those and then take some new ones.

Digging though my closet, I found them all in a light purple box on the shelf. I was going to put the scrapbook together by year, starting with when Jacob and I first met—when I was five and he was four. There were pictures of when we were at the beach playing in the tide pools. Then there was one were Jacob had grabbed a crab and chased after me with it. I laughed at the picture. My face was so terrified. Those crabs scared the crap out me.

Then there was one picture that stood out. I must have been six years old in this one. Jacob and I were sitting in the sandy all wet and I was kissing him on the cheek with my arms wrapped around him. I liked this one. I took it and put the tape roller on the back of the picture, then pasted it onto the first open page. I decorated around the pictures that I had chosen, labeling them with the date and what our ages where. I was going to keep this forever.

It was ten o'clock and Jacob wasn't here yet. What was holding him up? Was something wrong? I decided to go back to the scrapbooking another day since my hand was cramping up. I flicked of the light and headed downstairs.

My thoughts were interrupted by the loud ring of the phone. It was sitting right next to me in the cradle. Two rings went by and I didn't pick it up. I was afraid that it would another hang up. But, on the other hand, it could be Charlie. I hesitantly grabbed the phone and answered. "Hello?"

"Bella, thank goodness you answered. Listen I need you to get to La Push now," Jacob told me. His words were rushed and worried.

"Why?"

Jacob sighed. "Look, I'm not exactly sure. I'm not even supposed to say anything about it either but I need you to get down here."

"Jacob, I don't understand. Does it have to be right now? Is it unsafe here?"

"Bella, I have to go. We already chased the redhead back up the border but there's another bloodsucker there. I'm not sure if they're a threat or not. Hell, any vampire is a threat but we just don't know why it wants...I just want to know that you're safe. Please, just leave there," Jacob said. "I'll see you later on tonight, I promise. I'll be back soon."

He had me confused. "Wait—where are you?"

"In Canada," he replied. "The only way I know all of this is because Jared is back there. He's the _only_ one there. Like I said, I'll be back soon. As soon as I'm done talking to you I'll leave. Just, please, please, Bella, I need you safe."

"Okay," I agreed. "I'm grabbing my keys right now." My mind went racing. _Another vampire. Another vampire. Another vampire._ Was this one out to get me, too? I quickly grabbed my keys, ready to sprint out the door and to my truck.

Jacob cleared his throat. "I have to go now. I love you, Bella."

"I love you, too," I replied. "Be careful."

"I will," was the last thing I heard him whisper before hanging up the phone.

I quickly ran into the kitchen and grabbed a note pad and pen. I was going to have to leave a note for Charlie.

_Dad,_

_Went over to Jacob's…not sure when I'll be back._

_Dinner in the fridge._

_Love, _

_Bella_

I scribbled the words onto the paper, rushing so fast that you could barely read what I wrote. They weren't even in complete sentences. I didn't matter. I needed to get to La Push. I was officially freaking out about what Jacob had told me. There was another vampire in town, other than Victoria. I already had one vampire after me; I did not need another one. _What if they like team up or something?_ I regretfully thought. The more I thought about it, the more scared I was getting.

I pushed the thoughts out and hurried to the door. I would have time to worry later when I was safe and at Jacob's house. Amongst my rushing I hadn't realized that I grabbed the wrong set of keys. I groaned, throwing the keys onto the table by the door.

I ran up the steps and snatched _my_ keys off my desk. I wasn't paying any attention to my surroundings and accidently slipped at the top of the steps. Both my legs went straight out, hitting the first two steps. My hand instinctively few out to my side to break my fall. It didn't help that much. I felt a sharp pain shot up my back.

"Ouch," I muttered, aggravated that I was so clumsy.

When I got up again, I carefully walked down the steps, watching where my footing was. All I needed was to tumble down the stairs and break my leg…or both.

Upon landing on the ground floor, I took a few steps over to the door. I grabbed my coat off the hanger and flung the door open while I had on arm in my sleeve. I stepped out onto the cement porch, shutting the front door behind me. I put my jacket the rest of the way on while I searched through the numerous keys to fond the one that belonged to my house so I could lock it. It hardly mattered if I locked it or not. If it was a vampire, they wouldn't care one bit.

"Bella!" a voice said. It was a familiar voice that I knew so well, one that I missed.

I slowly turned around so that I my eyes were looking into the two sets of topaz ones.

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**I know the chapter was really short but there wasn't much else I could add to it without making it drag on and be boring. Sorry for the cliffhanger but it had to be done. Makes it exciting! Aren't you just dying to know who the visitors are? I can't wait until you read the next chapter…it's going to be get good.**

**REVIEWS=LOVE**


	18. Not Only One, But Two

**I cannot wait until winter break. I'm am going to write every waking moment that I have, just for you! Also, if you haven't checked out my other story _A New Beginning_ you should! Let's get to the story...**

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"Oh. My. God." I couldn't believe my eyes. Was I hallucinating? Was I delusional? Was this one of my dreams? "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Bella," Alice rushed to me and threw her arms around my waist. She was as hard as a rock, and that was one thing that I had forgotten. Even if she was so small, it was like slamming into a brick wall at full force.

There was a sigh in front of us. "You see, Alice? I told you she was still alive. Look at her, she is perfectly fine." I looked up and saw Rosalie. She was gazing back at me with her golden eyes. "Bella, Alice thought that something terrible happened to you." Her tone suggested that she either doubted that something bad had happened to me or that she didn't care at all about. Maybe it was a combination of the two. Rosalie never really did like me; or if she did like me, she was good at acting as if she hated me.

This was really happening.

"I'm fine," I told her, then averting my eyes to Alice, who had gone back to her place next to Rosalie. I could hardly contain my excitement to see them. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here!"

Alice rushed forward again and hugged me. She was overjoyed to see me, too. "May we come inside?"

"Of course," I said, grabbing my keys out and unlocking the door. "Come in."

Alice danced right through the front door but Rosalie stayed on the porch, looking fairly out of her element. She looked the same as she did when I last saw her. Her blonde hair was curled around her face and she was wearing designer clothes, just like Alice was. She was tall, but that could be from the three inch black heels that she managed to walk in. Lucky her. She could wear those things and not end up falling down a flight of stairs. After a brief moment, she entered my house. She quickly found herself by Alice's side as I shut the door.

Alice smiled and looked around the house like it belonged to someone important. "It's been awhile since I've been here," she said, marveled.

"I've never stepped foot inside this house, let alone see it from the outside," Rosalie muttered.

Alice turned to face her sister. "Well, maybe if you had just put your differences aside then you could have tried to be friends with Bella. But, oh, no! You had to be the mean one and push her to the side. After all, she was Edward's—"

She stopped and turned to me. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "Forget I said anything."

I wished that Jacob were here right now. But, having a human, two vampires, and a werewolf under one roof was probably not the best idea. Someone would end up hurt, and it would most likely be me. "No, it's okay. I'm over that," I told her honestly. "I'm actually dating someone as of the moment."

I walked pasted Alice and Rosalie and into the kitchen. I was parched and desperately needed a drink. I was about to offer them a drink to when I remembered that the only thing they drink is blood. That meant I had to be very careful.

Alice rushed into a conversation. "Seriously? Who is it? Do I know him?" She was smiling, which meant she was happy for me. I sighed in relief.

Rosalie walked into the kitchen as well, overhearing, and wanting to interrupt. Her high heels clunked against the wooden floor. "Please tell me it's not Mike Newton," she said in disgust.

I laughed a little. "No, it's not him."

Alice squealed with joy. "This is amazing. We just got here a few minutes ago after being gone for so long and it feels like we never left…maybe we should go talk on the couch?" she suggested.

Another few minutes later, we were all in the living room. Alice and I were on the ends of the couch as Rosalie stood. Alice leaned in. "She just needs to hunt, that's all. I do to but, we'll get to that later. I have to tell you about my visions. They were the reason I came here in the first place, why _we _came here."

"Go ahead," I rushed her.

Alice situated herself against a pillow and begun. "It all started while ago but I didn't think anything of it. Futures change all the time, but yours would just disappear on me. Out of the blue…it was gone! I didn't know what to think of it because nothing like that had ever happened to me before. Your future would weave in and out, disappear and then come back."—she paused to take a breath—"I kept it to myself for awhile, I was actually starting to think that there was something wrong with me, but I knew something had to be up."

Rosalie interrupted before Alice could finish. "What is that horrid smell?" she wrinkled up her nose. "I don't think that I came even breathe in here anymore. It's disgusting" Rosalie turned to meet my eyes. "What is that?"

I opened my mouth but no words came out. _It's probably just my boyfriend, no worries,_ I thought to myself. That would be another conversation.

"Oh, that doesn't matter," Alice snapped. "Let me finish. Where was I? Oh, I remember, your future. I was so worried when your future disappeared the last time because it never came back. I thought that you might be dead, or something bad had happened. I had come see if you were okay…and that's how we ended up here.

Rosalie huffed. "Yeah, and you dragged me all the way out here with you."

Alice rolled her eyes. "You did agree to come with me. I gave you an option. You act like I drugged you and strapped you to the roof of a car to get you here. You were all more than willing to come and you know that. Don't put on a show, Rosalie, we are not in a play," she said, then added, "If you were nice than maybe you wouldn't be so miserable."

"I'm not miserable. This town is miserable! I don't want to be here anymore, I'm already sick of it," Rosalie spat out.

Their bickering went of for sometime. I was in no place to interupt them, though. I was going to wait until they were done.

I would have preferred it if it was just Alice who had come. I didn't even know why Rosalie came with her sister since she practically hated me. "How long are you staying?" I asked Alice, trying to ignore Rosalie and her negativity.

"Well, now that I know that you are safe, I'm sure I can stay for a visit. A very long visit," she laughed. "We have a lot to catch up on. And, Plus, I don't have anywhere to be. Jasper and Emmett are in South America, so I have some tie on my hands. I'm sure Rosalie would love to stay as well."

Our eyes focused on Rosalie. "I guess I could do some shopping," she concluded. "There are a few shops around here that I liked, so I'm sure I can find something to do with my time."

Alice popped her head up. "That is if you don't mind us staying."

"Of course not! I'm glad you're here." It was the truth.

In the few moments that passed, there was a cold silence. Alice broke it with her bubbly voice. "I hope you don't mind if we stay at our place…what _was _our house…you know, before everything happened. We'll stay out of your hair." She leaned in and smiled. "Let you go back to a normal life."

I laughed out loud. "_Normal? _I wish things could be normal. Mythical creatures seem to pop up everywhere I go."

Her brows furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

For a split second, I thought that I might be betraying Jacob if I told Alice and Rosalie what he was. Would I be betraying them? Telling them his secret. How would they view it? It hardly mattered at the moment. After all, Jacob was the one who told me about that Cullens when we first met at the beach. But, in his defense, he didn't know anything about vampires or werewolves at that specific time. He had thought they were only stories.

"Do you know Jacob Black? Ephraim Black? I suppose you don't, I don't believe you were with Carlisle at the time…I think Rosalie was, though."

"Yes, I remember," she acknowledged. "We had..._have_ a treaty with them. Don't really need it now…"

"Oh, I know now. I've heard all of this from Carlisle. So you go on with what you were saying." Alice seemed interested in what I had to say.

I sighed at what would come next. I hoped Jacob wouldn't be mad at me. "Ephraim Black is Jacob's great-grandfather and Jacob is sort of a _werewolf_," I explained. I kept it simple.

Alice stood up with a horror stricken look on her face. I didn't bother looking over my shoulder to see what Rosalie's expression was. "Bella!" Alice shrieked. "No! Do you know how dangerous that is? This is crazy. We leave and you have to go find another monster to be around."

"Dangerous? I don't think they are any more dangerous than vampires are," I muttered. "At least I haven't almost died yet. Do you really think anything could be more dangerous than what happened with James? I could have died then…or worse."

She shook her head. "Okay, I guess I can't judge."

"Jacob and me are dating," I blurted out. "I love him."

Both girls' eyes bulged. Alice took a deep breath. "Not judging," she reminded herself. "Okay, so you are dating a werewolf. Is that everything?"

I thought for a moment. "There is one tiny detail that I left out," I hinted. She nodded for me to proceed. "Victoria is back and she wants to kill me. Jacob and the other werewolves are protecting me from her but, she keeps coming back. She's hunting me."

"Oh, dear, God!" Rosalie gasped. She turned to Alice and said, "What are we going to do?"

Alice's focus didn't leave me. "This is an unfortunate event. Goodness, why would she come back?"

"James was her mate. She got pissed when Edward killed him and now she wants revenge for his death. A mate for a mate. I don't think she has any clue about what happened though," I told them. "She's been here for awhile now, just waiting for the right time to get me alone." Her name made me cringe.

We all fell silent.

Alice spoke up. "Then we have to stay and help get rid of her," she decided, examining the situation I was in.

"I'd be grateful," I told her.

Rosalie groaned. "I suppose we have to meet these _wolves _then. Oh, goody!"

Her sarcasm was not appreciated. I did love the werewolves; I loved them for everything that they were doing for me. They were keeping me alive, protecting me. They didn't have to but they were willing to. I felt like I needed to defend them. "I'm sure they will be thrilled to meet you, too, Rosalie," I snapped.

"Rose, can't you be a little more respectful?" Alice asked.

She rolled her eyes. "I can try."

All of our eyes averted to the door when I came swinging open. Alice's stance became alerted, looking like she was about to pounce on the intruder. The weight was taken off my chest when I saw that it was only Jacob who walked through the door. Normally, I would have run over to him and hugged him like there was no tomorrow, but in this case, I didn't. I stood in my place and waited for him to speak. He would be mad, I knew it. He would wonder why I would be associating with a Cullen when they hurt me in the first place. There would be endless questions as to why they were here, but in the end, it wouldn't matter. As long as Jacob was by my side, there was nothing to worry about.

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** I needed to update so I whipped this one together over two days so I'm sorry if there is any mistakes. It is really hard to balance out writing and all my school work. I'm not even joking when I say that I get around seven to eight hours of homework each night. I hope the chapter is good. The next chapter will be more in depth, I promise! Our Jacob will be more involved!**


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